Crystal Palace lose appeal against Europa League demotion in CAS

LONDON – Crystal Palace’s appeal against their demotion from the Europa League to the Conference League was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Aug 11.

The London club, who had qualified for the second-tier Europa League by winning last season’s FA Cup, had breached Uefa’s rules governing multi-club ownership.

European football’s governing body determined that as of March 1, American businessman John Textor had control or influence in both Palace and French club Lyon.

It means under Uefa rules they are unable to compete in the same European competition, with Lyon holding on to the Europa League spot by virtue of their higher league position. They finished sixth in Ligue 1 while Palace were 12th in the English Premier League.

The Eagles appealed to CAS in July after Textor agreed to sell his 43 per cent stake in the Premier League club to Woody Johnson, owner of American football outfit New York Jets.

However, that deal was struck well after Uefa’s March 1 deadline for multi-club conflicts to be resolved.

“After considering the evidence, the panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in Crystal Palace and Lyon and was a board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of Uefa’s assessment date,” the CAS said in a statement on Aug 11, three days after a closed-door hearing.

“The panel considered that the Uefa regulations are clear and do not provide flexibility to clubs that are non-compliant on the assessment date, as Crystal Palace claimed.”

The ruling clears the way for Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh in last season’s EPL, to replace Palace in the Europa League.

Palace, who beat Liverpool 3-2 on penalties to win the Community Shield after a 2-2 draw at Wembley on Aug 10, will enter the Conference League in the play-off round later in August.

Palace did not immediately respond to Reuters’ e-mail request for comment.

But goalkeeper Dean Henderson said after their Wembley victory that their demotion to the third-tier Conference League would “devalue” the Europa League.

“We win the FA Cup, we are justified to be in the Europa League,” the 28-year-old told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“For football purposes, we deserve to be in the Europa League. I think it would devalue the competition unfortunately if we weren’t in the Europa League.”

When asked whether he would swop the Community Shield win for a successful appeal, Palace manager Oliver Glasner replied after their shoot-out win over Liverpool: “No. The players were not scared of noise around us.”

Palace start their Premier League campaign away to Chelsea on Aug 17, before meeting Forest in their first home game of the season a week later.

In a statement, Lyon said that they welcome the CAS decision confirming their participation in the Europa League. AFP, REUTERS