3 days ago
Crystal Palace launch scathing attack on Uefa over Europa League demotion
Crystal Palace have launched a blistering attack on Uefa over their demotion from the Europa League, claiming certain clubs 'have a unique privilege and power'.
The club said that 'sporting merit was rendered meaningless' after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) rejected their appeal to stay in the Europa League as FA Cup winners having been judged by Uefa to have broken multi-club ownership (MCO) regulations.
Palace said: 'This growing and unhealthy influence has shattered the hopes and dreams of Crystal Palace supporters, and does not bode well for aspirational teams all over Europe competing to progress when rules and sanctions are unevenly applied in the most flagrant way.'
Palace also said that Uefa's rules ignored informal partnerships which did not fall under the remit of MCO rules. Their former investor John Textor, whose erstwhile stake in Palace is at the heart of the case, has traded players between his clubs – Ligue 1 Lyon and Botafogo in Brazil – and clubs belonging to Evangelos Marinakis, the Nottingham Forest owner.
Forest have told Uefa from the start that Palace had to be demoted and have pursued the case. The Uefa decision, upheld by Cas, has meant Palace's Europa League place has gone to Forest.
Palace said: 'Multi-club structures hide behind the charade of a 'blind trust' while clubs such as ours, who have no connection to another club whatsoever, are prevented from playing in the same competition. To compound the injustice, clubs that appear to have huge informal arrangements with each other are also allowed to participate and even possibly play against each other.'
Big MCO groups such as City Football Group, Red Bull, and Ineos have all used the blind trust process to gain access to the same Uefa competition for more than one of their clubs.
Palace said that the Cas board that heard the case was restricted in the evidence it could hear because of issues around disclosure, and also the calling of witnesses. For instance, it was never disclosed what agreements were reached with other clubs that did not meet the March 1 deadline for MCO clubs. Forest, who briefly faced the prospect of competing in the Champions League as well as Marinakis' Olympiacos, agreed a 'compliance structure' with Uefa that meant the blind trust process was completed after March 1.
Palace said: 'The denial of all disclosure requests to obtain correspondence between the relevant parties, the refusal to allow witness testimony from those involved, and the general lack of formality and respect for law mean decisions cannot be properly challenged, leading to pre-determined outcomes.
'Uefa's decision has wider implications for the governance of the sport. A combination of poorly conceived regulations and their unequal application means our brilliant fans will be deprived of the chance to watch this team compete in the Europa League for the first time in our history.'
Palace called upon Uefa to 'pass coherent rules' that allowed for clubs to resolve issues and a 'proper appeal process'. It noted that, as with the Manchester City case against the Premier League, such issues could eventually find their way into law courts if the governing body could not adapt.
Palace, the FA Cup winners, were ultimately ejected because Uefa judged that former MCO investor John Textor controlled 50 per cent of a 43 per cent stake in the club by the March 1 MCO deadline. Textor's Eagle Football then also owned a stake in Ligue 1 Lyon which had qualified for the Europa League after Paris St-Germain won the French Cup final in May, creating what Uefa saw as the MCO issue.
The previous year Uefa's Club Financial Control Body had moved the deadline forward to March 1 for MCOs to place control of one of their clubs in a blind trust. That would enable MCO clubs to compete in the same competition.
When the issue became clear, Palace's key decision-makers, Steve Parish and boardroom allies, David Blitzer and Josh Harris, argued that Textor did not have decisive influence at the club. Textor also said the same. In addition, Palace argued that others had been able to remedy MCO issues after the March 1 deadline.
Yet even the sale of Eagle Football's stake to US investor Woody Johnson last month for $200m could not change Uefa's view. At Cas, Forest, named as a respondent, sent a five-strong legal team that argued the case on behalf of their Europa League participation and that of Lyon.
Palace said that the Cas appeal process made it 'almost impossible to receive a fair hearing'. In order to gain a Uefa licence, critical to being able to compete in Uefa competition, a club must agree to resolve any governance issues with Cas. Palace will now have to play a qualifying double header for the Europa Conference League on August 21 and August 28.
A statement from Cas said: 'CAS rules are long-standing and designed to ensure fairness in the sporting world.
'In line with this practice, all Parties on 8 August 2025 were given a formal opportunity to raise any concern about the running of the process. No objections were raised to state that the right to a fair hearing was not respected.'
