Crystal Palace lose appeal against Europa League removal | OneFootball

Crystal Palace have lost their appeal against removal from the Europa League and will play in the Conference League this season.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld their demotion from the Europa League with a statement confirming the decision on Monday.

Palace were removed from the Europa League as punishment for breaking multi-club ownership rules.

The FA Cup winners were deemed to have breached rules because John Textor held shares in French side Lyon, who also qualified for the Europa League, and Palace. Textor has since sold his stake in the Eagles.

Palace argued that Textor never had a decisive influence at Selhurst Park, after the club missed a March 1st deadline to set up a blind trust and comply with UEFA multi-club rules.

However, Palace – who had never previously played in Europe or won a major trophy before their shock FA Cup success – argued that only members of the European Club Association (ECA) were informed of the deadline. Textor was also looking to sell his shares at the time of the deadline.

Nottingham Forest, who have replaced Palace in the Europa League, saw shares put in a blind trust before the deadline with owner Evangelos Marinakis also in control of Olympiacos.

A statement from CAS said: “After considering the evidence, the panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in CPFC and OL and was a Board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of Uefa’s assessment date.

“The panel also dismissed the argument by CPFC that they received unfair treatment in comparison to Nottingham Forest and OL. 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 CPFC claimed.”

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See more – Crystal Palace win Community Shield with shootout win over Liverpool

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