Crystal Palace’s appeal to compete in Europa League to be heard by CAS in August
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Crystal Palace were demoted to the third-tier Conference League by Uefa's Club Financial Control Body in a multi-club ownership case.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LAUSANNE – A closed-door hearing in the case of Crystal Palace v Uefa, Nottingham Forest and Lyon will be held on Aug 8, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on July 30.
Palace were demoted from the second-tier Europa League to the third-tier Conference League
Uefa rules state that no owner or co-owner can have a controlling interest in more than one club taking part in the same European competition in the same season.
Palace were punished as American businessman John Textor owned a controlling stake in the club, while also being chairman of the Eagle Football Group, which is the majority owner of Lyon.
Textor later resigned from Lyon’s board of directors with Michele Kang appointed chairwoman and president.
He also agreed in June to sell his Palace stake to Woody Johnson, owner of American football outfit New York Jets – with the move completed on July 24 – but it came too late to satisfy Uefa.
While Palace’s position was that Textor did not have “decisive influence” over the club, the deadline for shareholders to divest their interest in a club, or in some other way to alter their ownership structure in order to comply with the regulations, was March 1.
Palace, who were 12th in last season’s English Premier League, had qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup.
Lyon, who finished sixth in Ligue 1, were allowed to keep their place as they had a higher league position.
Forest, who had earned a Conference League spot by finishing seventh in the EPL, will join Aston Villa as the EPL’s representatives in the Europa League if the ruling stands.
A decision is anticipated on Aug 11, three days after the CAS hearing.
“We are still fighting,” Palace chairman Steve Parish told The Rest Is Football podcast on July 16.
“There’s an appeal process, so we go to CAS and, you know, we’re very hopeful. We think we’ve got great legal arguments.
“We don’t think this is the right decision by any means. We know unequivocally that John didn’t have decisive influence over the club.
“We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it’s a fact.”
In other news, newly-promoted EPL team Burnley are offering their fans a virtual reality viewing experience, meaning they can enjoy being at the club’s Turf Moor stadium from their room.
Fans who acquire special headsets will be able to take a virtual seat inside the stadium for the Clarets’ friendly against Italian club Lazio on Aug 9, complete with match-day commentary and in-stadium audio. REUTERS
