Crystal Palace forced to play in Conference League after losing CAS appeal
Crystal Palace have had their demotion to the UEFA Conference League for the coming season upheld after they lost their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Palace had a fantastic season in 2024/25, winning their first major trophy as they beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final. Usually, the winners would be placed in the Europa League for the next season, but multi-club ownership rules demoted Palace.
As part-owner John Textor owned shares in both Palace and Lyon – who also qualified for the competition – Palace were knocked down into the UEFA Conference League.
Textor then sold his shares in the club, and Palace appealed the decision, with chairman Steve Parish stating Textor had never held decisive influence over the club, and was no longer involved.
They argued that they had been singled out by UEFA, and that the rules had not been applied consistently.
Indeed, Palace presented evidence that only members of the European Club Association (ECA) were informed that UEFA’s March deadline for setting up a blind trust to comply with multi-club regulations could be extended until May 31.
That enabled the Nottingham Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, to place his club into a blind trust at the end of April, as he also owns Olympiakos.
That means Forest are expected to play in the Europa League, while Palace will be in the Conference League.
Palace owner Parish, after the appeal, said: “I’m determined that we get the right outcome – if we don’t, we’ll have to look at if there’s any steps after that. But after Friday, I don’t understand how we cannot be in the competition.”
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Parish has other important things to contend with at the minute, too. He has suggested that is star man Marc Guehi does not pen a new contract, then he might have to be sold, amid interest in him from Premier League champions Liverpool.
Parish said: “We’d have to do that, of course. For players of that calibre to leave on a free, it’s a problem for us unfortunately.
“Joachim [Andersen] went [to Fulham last summer] and we couldn’t afford to lose both.
“We then had another bid [for Guehi] in January but that was a different situation. We’ll just have to see what happens. But, you know, it needs a new contract or a conclusion of some kind.”
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