Crystal Palace have been thrown out of the Europa League and will play in the Conference League next season after UEFA ruled that they are in breach of multi-club ownership rules.
Palace secured their place in the Europa League for the upcoming campaign by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May.
However, clubs with the same owner are prevented from competing in the same UEFA competition if an individual or group is deemed to have a decisive influence over both of those teams.
John Textor is Palace’s largest shareholder but also owns Lyon, who qualified for next season’s Europa League after finishing sixth in Ligue 1 last season.
Last month, Textor agreed a £190 million deal to sell his 44.9 per cent stake in Palace to US billionaire Woody Johnson, but the sale has not been completed.
Lyon, meanwhile, won their appeal against relegation from Ligue 1 last week but if they had dropped out of the French top flight, the club had agreed with UEFA to be excluded from the Europa League, clearing the way for Palace to remain in the competition.
UEFA statement on Crystal Palace demotion from Europa League
The First Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body has concluded the proceedings on the multi-club ownership case involving Crystal Palace (ENG) and Olympique Lyonnais (FRA).
The CFCB First Chamber had opened proceedings against Crystal Palace and Olympique Lyonnais due to a potential conflict with the multi-club ownership rule provided for in Article 5 of the UEFA Club Competitions Regulations.
On 9 July 2025, the appeal instance of the French financial control authority (DNCG) decided not to relegate Olympique Lyonnais to Ligue 2. Consequently, and following an assessment by the CFCB of all the other relevant conditions included in the settlement agreement, Olympique Lyonnais will not be excluded from the 2025/26 UEFA club competitions (see media release of 30 June 2025).
Consequently, the CFCB First Chamber pursued the assessment of the documentation submitted by Olympique Lyonnais and Crystal Palace and concluded that the clubs breached, as at 1 March 2025, the multi-club ownership criteria foreseen in Art 5.01 of the UEFA Club Competition Regulations.
For this reason, and in accordance with the provisions set in Art. 5.02, 5.03 and 5.04 of the UEFA Club Competitions Regulations, the CFCB First Chamber decided:
• To accept Olympique Lyonnais’ admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League; and
• To reject Crystal Palace’s admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League and to accept Crystal Palace’s admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League.
The present decision may be appealed against before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in accordance with Articles 62 and 63 of the UEFA Statutes.
However, UEFA announced on Friday that Palace and Lyon have breached multi-club ownership criteria.
Lyon will remain in the Europa League, while Palace will drop into the Conference League, which Chelsea won in May.
Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League last season, could now replace Palace in the Europa League.
Speaking on Thursday before UEFA’s decision was announced, Textor insisted he did not have ‘decisive influence’ at Palace.
‘I am dumb enough and successful enough to not sort of predict in advance what a governing body is going to say,’ Textor told talkSPORT.
‘At times, I’ve been so confident at how we would come out of a hearing with the DNCG or with UEFA.
‘So just never, ever, ever try and predict what they’re going to do. I think it’s insulting to them. I think they deserve to make a decision, and I don’t want to prejudge it.
‘I think this talk of trust is only if you have decisive influence. Why should I put my interest in trust back before March when the rule says you only have to do it if you have decisive influence? I don’t.
‘If I had decisive influence, then those Brazilian players that just beat PSG in the Club World Cup, half of them would be coming to Crystal Palace next year.
‘But you don’t see one single player from our network of clubs that’s made its way onto the Palace roster.
‘Which is the source of my frustration with the lack of collaboration that we’ve been able to have with Crystal Palace.’
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