Forest smile as UEFA denies Palace Europa League spot

11.8.2025
Nottingham Forest are having the last laugh, they can now play in the Europa League after the Court of Arbitration for Sports upheld a UEFA decision to relegate Crystal Palace to the Conference League.
CAS delivered the ruling on Monday after Nottingham Forest had drawn the attention of the European soccer governing body to the fact that Palace, based on ownership rule cannot play in the Europa League. As FA Cup winners, Palace won the right to play in the Europa League.
Palace had appealed the UEFA decision keeping them out of the competition, but CAS ruled that the London club have not complying with the governing body’s multi-club ownership rules.
They lost their place because their former shareholder John Textor, who was the majority owner of French club Lyon, did not put his Palace shares in a blind trust by the 1 March deadline.
As both Lyon and Palace had qualified for the Europa League, the French club were allowed to keep their place as they had finished higher in their respective leagues.
Lyon finished sixth in Ligue 1 while Palace were 12th in the Premier League.
CAS said in a statement that Mr Textor “had shares in CPFC (Crystal Palace) and OL (Olympique Lyonnais/Lyon) 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.”