Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish confirms club will appeal UEFA Europa League demotion at CAS – ‘We are still fighting’..
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has said the club intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over their demotion from the UEFA Europa League to the Conference League. UEFA deemed Palace to have fallen foul of their multi-club ownership rules – an accusation the south Londoners ardently disagree with. The Eagles qualified for the competition after winning last season’s FA Cup.
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Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has said the club intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over their demotion from the UEFA Europa League to the Conference League.
The FA Cup winners were demoted last week on account of UEFA deeming a conflict of interest regarding former Palace director and shareholder John Textor, whose Eagle Football Holdings also own a majority stake in Ligue 1 side Lyon.
Textor stepped away from Palace at the start of July, with his shares in the process of being sold to American pharmaceuticals mogul Woody Johnson, while he also resigned from his leadership roles at Lyon.
‘A terrible injustice’ – Palace stripped of place in Europa League by UEFA’A terrible injustice’ – Palace stripped of place in Europa League by UEFA.
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‘A terrible injustice’ – Palace stripped of place in Europa League by UEFA
11/07/2025 at 20:52
UEFA regulations state that no owner or co-owner can have a controlling interest in more than one club competing in the same European competition during the same campaign.
Nevertheless, Parish maintains Textor never had a decisive influence at the south London club, who beat Manchester City in May’s FA Cup final to win the first major trophy in their history.
“We are still fighting,” Parish told The Rest is Football podcast.
“There’s an appeal process, so we go to CAS which is the court for arbitration and, you know, we’re very hopeful. We think we’ve got great legal arguments.
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“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.”
Owners can comply with UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules by placing their shares into a blind trust, which, in theory, sees assets transferred to a trustee who manages them without the beneficiary’s input.
The deadline for shareholders to alter their ownership structure was last season moved to March 1, the day Palace beat Millwall in the FA Cup fifth round, having previously been in June.
Nottingham Forest stand to be promoted to the Europa League should Palace fail in their appeal.
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“We feel that there are a lot of very genuine mitigating circumstances and more than enough wriggle room to put us in the competition,” said Parish.
“It does look bad. This is the dream, right? This is what keeps football alive. This is why everybody goes, because they think one day they might win a cup and they might qualify for Europe.
“These things can be defining moments for a club and completely change the course of history forever.
“Hopefully, when we go to CAS we get the right answer.
“We get the written version of [the ruling] with the details, then apparently the appeal is 10 days”
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