Everything you need to know about the doubts surrounding Crystal Palace’s European dream | OneFootball

Crystal Palace’s dream of European football is in danger of ending before it has actually begun.

Oliver Glasner’s side defeated Manchester City to win the FA Cup, their first ever major trophy, and second a place in the Europa League next season.

However, the Eagles are at danger of being unable to participate in the competition during to a breach of UEFA’s multi-club rules.

So how has it come to this, and what still needs to be resolved?

What we know so far

Palace’s fairytale cup win and first time in European club competition was the talk of the town, but since then it has been all chaos. UEFA’s rules state that “no individual or legal entity” can hold a majority of shareholder voting rights at two clubs in the same European tournament. This is important because American John Textor, whose company Eagle football has owned 77 per cent of French side Lyon since late 2022, also owns 43 per cent of Palace. Lyon also qualified for the Europa League, but due to finishing sixth in Ligue 1 compared to Palace’s 12th place finish, they get priority over the south Londoners.

It is claimed that Textor’s share in Palace does not meet the 30 per cent threshold, and he only has 25 per cent voting rights. This percentage satisfies UEFA in determining “decisive influence.” The Eagles have not done business with Lyon since Textor’s original investment in August 2021, with Everton’s Jake O’Brien being the last player to have been transferred between the two sides since August 2023, when he transferred to the Ligue 1 outfit. Textor has in the past spoken publicly about his lack of involvement in Palace, where he only has one vote, calling himself “a fan.”

Who would benefit from Palace’s banishment

It emerged at the start of the week that Nottingham Forest have written to UEFA to express there concerns over Palace’s participation in the Europa League due to the possibility that they could get in trouble with the multi-club ownership rules. Any possible banishment from the competition for the Eagles would be at Forest’s gain, after they finished in seventh and the Europa Conference League spot thanks to a sharp end of season drop off. The Midlands outfit would be elevated into the Europa League slot vacated by Palace, who would drop into the Conference League instead.

But another issue facing Palace owner Steve Parish is that his fellow shareholders Josh Harris and David Blitzer, who also own Danish side Brondby, have qualified for the Conference League themselves, which would throw up even more confusion on the situation.

If that were to happen then Brighton would benefit as after finishing eighth, would then inherit the Conference League slot left by Forest. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were also at risk of breaking UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules as owner Evangelos Marinakis also controls Greek giants Olympiakos.

But before Forest’s end of campaign slump, themselves and Olympiakos were on track to qualify for the Champions League, leading Marinakis to dilute his shares before the March 1 deadline.

Palace missed the deadline, as they were playing Millwall in the FA Cup Fifth Round, and have since said to UEFA they are prepared to take immediate action to comply.

Possible outcomes

Palace’s arguments to the breach are it would unfairly punishment the fans, staff and community, as of the time of the deadline, qualifying for Europe seemed unrealistic. They also believe refusing them a place would contradict the promotion of football’s development as per Article 2 of Uefa’s statutes, that “sporting values always prevail.”

A ban from next season’s competition is one of the options lying in front of Palace, whilst being cleared of any wrongdoing is an possibility, and the conclusion the south Londoners will be hoping for.

Woody Johnson, the owner of NFL franchise the New York Jets, is reportedly keen to buy Textor’s share of Palace, which would clear a path for Palace to participate in Europe.

An announcement from UEFA on their decision is set to be in the coming weeks.