Crystal Palace ‘could face court’ over potential Europa League ban as Premier League rivals write to UEFA over exclusion
Palace are locked in a battle over their Europa League participation next season.
Premier League club Nottingham Forest have written a letter to UEFA amid the ongoing row over Crystal Palace’s participation in next season’s Europa League, it has been reported.
Palace’s position in the competition is in potential danger, according to The Times, over concerns that the club may be in breach of multi-club ownership rules.
Oliver Glasner’s side ensured Europa League qualification by winning the FA Cup, defeating Manchester City 1-0 at Wembley last month.
But the club’s main shareholder, John Textor, owns a majority stake – through Eagle Football Holdings – in Ligue 1 side Lyon, who have also qualified for the same competition.
Palace reportedly attended a UEFA summit last week in which they argued that American businessman Textor has no say over club decisions as he only has 25 per cent voting.
That point is believed to be critical, according to BBC Sport – as the figure does not meet the 30 per cent threshold at which UEFA deems to be ‘decisive influence’ over a club.
In addition, Palace are said to have explained that the two clubs are not part of the same ownership group and ‘do not share any staff, facilities or information’.
And only one transfer has been completed between the two sides since Eagle’s takeover of Lyon back in 2021.
Should it deemed that Palace have not satisfied UEFA rules, Forest would take their place in the Europa League, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side having qualified for the Conference League for next season.
The Times now report that Forest have written a letter to UEFA, in which they underline their ‘concerns’ over Palace’s participation in the Europa League.
Their majority owner, Evangelos Marinakis, took steps to separate Forest’s ownership structure from that of his other club, Olympiakos, when it became clear that the two clubs could qualify for the same European competition.
As it turned out, the Greek club earned automatic qualification for the league phase of next season’s Champions League by winning the Greek Super League for the 48th time.
But a ‘promotion’ to the Europa League could still have an impact on Forest’s summer business, as it may affect the type of talent they could attract to the club.
Brighton, who finished in eighth place, are in a similar position, as they could play Conference League football next season if Palace are barred from Europe.
‘Insiders’ are said to believe that the case could go as far as the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a certain scenario, with Forest and Brighton then potentially able to appeal any verdict.
That scenario would involve both Lyon and Palace being allowed to participate, with the French club being monitored by UEFA over a separate matter.
UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) disqualified Lyon from European competition for 2025/26 after the publication of their annual financial statement in December 2024.
They later lifted the ban after Lyon submitted financial statements with a ‘clean audit opinion from its auditors … in respect of going concern’.
The French club have debts of over €500 million, and were even provisionally relegated to Ligue 2 back in November unless they met strict financial criteria, which are not publicly known.
