Courtesy: Google
Crystal Palace won their first major trophy in their 119-year history after defeating Manchester City in the final of the FA Cup 2024-25 with a 1-0 scoreline at the Wembley Stadium in London last month. With that, the London-based club qualified for the UEFA Europa League (UEL) next season, but now, their spot in the competition is at stake due to conflict of interest of their minority owner John Textor having majority shares in Lyon, who also qualified for it.
It is understood that Eagle Football are a multi-club group owned by John Textor with a majority stake in the Ligue 1 side Lyon, who have made it through to the UEL next season. The group under the ownership of John Textor also have a minor shareholding in Crystal Palace, and with that, the rule of UEFA forbidding individuals from having control of more than one club from playing in the same competition, to avoid a conflict of interest, comes into the picture.
Crystal Palace have made an argument that John Textor doesn’t have decisive control
Since the domestic league places determine which teams are going to compete in the UEFA club competitions, Crystal Palace’s spot in UEL is at stake because they finished in 12th place in the Premier League in comparison to Lyon ending their season in sixth place in Ligue 1. This has led to the club hierarchy making a trip to Switzerland to have discussion around the participation of their team in the UEL next season.
Crystal Palace have made an argument that John Textor doesn’t have decisive control over the club’s day-to-day operations, and he has repeatedly pushed to sell his stake. Regardless, the latest report from BBC Sport states that the Eagles have to wait until the end of this month to learn whether or not they are going to be in the UEL next season, which will be quite an agonising thing for their fans especially after the team did everything to secure themselves a European spot.
Earlier, it was expected the UEFA ruling on the Crystal Palace-UEL matter would come next week, but now, it isn’t going to be the case.
