Palace vs UEFA - Unjust but also completely avoidable

The Eagles relegation to the Conference League is a travesty but should have been prevented

Background photo by Arne Müseler / www.arne-mueseler.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=139503633...

As a Palace fan, I’ve been reluctant to write about Crystal Palace and their non-admittance into the UEFA Europa League for fear that it would turn into a screed. However, with the story still unfolding and the club’s appeal to CAS has been announced for 8 August, now seems as good a time as any.

UEFA rules on Multi Club Ownership (MCOs) are a complete farce. They are the absolute essence of putting the cart before the horse. UEFA are against MCO’s participating in the same competitions for fear of undermining the integrity of those competitions. But their rules are totally ineffective with easy workarounds.

UEFA’s laws on the participation in the same European competition are based on reluctant acceptance. They are unwilling to stand up to powerful groups like the City Football Group (Manchester City and Girona both played in the Champions League in the 2024/25 season) or Red Bull (Leipzig and Salzburg are regulars in the Champions League). If they did it would result in an energy sapping court battles and would undermine the integrity of the competition by having, in some cases, high profile clubs kicked out of the competition, if only temporarily. With rivals looking to usurp UEFA club competitions via European super leagues or club world cups, this is the last thing they need.

UEFA addressed the issue by insisting that one of the clubs under multi club ownership place its shares into a “Blind Trust.” Girona who are 47% owned by the City Football Groups did this in time for them the 24/25 Champions League campaign., Red Bull do this for Salzburg and Leipzig and Evangelos Marinakis, owner of Olympiakos and Nottingham Forest did the same. That way if both teams qualified for the same competition, then both would be able to participate.

Let me re-emphasise: UEFA state very clearly that the purpose of the rules is that “No one has control or decisive influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition”. This is total rubbish.

There is nothing you can say to persuade me that Red Bull have no influence over either Leipzig or Salzburg, or that City Football Groups have no influence over Girona whatever arrangements they make. If you want any further evidence of how ineffectual this rule is than I remind you of Marinakis’ one man pitch invasion after Nottingham Forest’s 2-2 draw at home to Leicester towards the end of last season to remonstrate with head coach Nuno Espirito Santo. Marinakis was marching around the City Ground pitch like he owned the place and that is because he does irrespective of where his shares sit. These rules do not exist to prevent MCO from playing in the same UEFA competition, they exist to ensure that these clubs submit their paperwork in time.

But for all my bellyaching and that of countless others, the fact is that all those club owners are allowed to play in Europe because they followed the process and complied with UEFA’s rules.

Ultimately this is why Crystal Palace must look to themselves for their relegation to the Conference League.

To his enormous credit, Palace Chairman Steve Parish resisted the attempted by majority owner John Textor (who has or had majority stakes in Lyon in France and Botafogo in Brazil) to fold the club into his Eagle Football group. Parish runs Palace as an independent single entity. The trouble is that for as long as John Textor still owned his stake in the Eagles, Palace was not a single entity. Parish should have known this and should have planned accordingly.

Most Palace fans would have been incredibly surprised if, in February, they have been told that their team were going to win the FA Cup. But one man who should have anticipated that Palace may win the Cup and qualify for the Europa League is Steve Parish. If for no other reason than his head coach, Oliver Glasner, said that they were targeting the Cup. So even if they had failed, Parish should have done due diligence and made sure that the club was ready.

The deadline for handing in the necessary paperwork to UEFA is 1 March. As remote a prospect as it was, Parish should have accepted the reality of the club’s situation. Whether he likes it or not, Palace were always likely to be regarded as an MCO by UEFA so John Textor needed to put his shares into a blind trust. Something I’m sure Textor would have done, given that it would have made no material difference to him. And it can’t be hard. After all, even INEOS - when they weren’t too busy constantly stepping on rakes - managed to arrange for both Manchester United and OGC Nice to play in the Europa League last season and if they can do it…

As it was, Palace unexpectedly and gloriously won the FA Cup. Then PSG won the French Cup which allowed Lyon to qualify for the Europa League and as the team with the higher placed domestic league finish, Lyon are allowed to qualify under the rules and Palace must now play in the Conference League, which is a competition that Palace would have gladly taken at the start of the season.

You could argue that Lyon could have been the club to place Textor’s shares into a blind trust and you may be right. But that does not get Parish off the hook. He should be tending his own garden. It cannot be stressed enough that as unlikely as it may seem, if it is your head coach’s stated aim to qualify for Europe then the Chairman needs to do all he can to ensure there are no technical or legal barriers.

John Textor has subsequently sold his shares; another instance of barn doors and horses. Crystal Palace are taking UEFA’s decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the basis that Lyon should not be allowed to participate in the Europa League. This is related to Lyon’s recent demotion from Ligue 1 due financial irregularities.

If Palace are successful and persuade CAS that UEFA’s MCO rules are flimsy paper pushing nonsense and unfit for purpose, they will not only allow Palace back in the Europa League but also force UEFA to rethink their position on Multi Club Ownership. This would be a service to the game. But I doubt this will happen and Palace will have to settle for winning the Conference League, a competition that I have no doubt will be enjoyed by the travelling Palace fans.

But whatever happens Steve Parish needs to reflect on this whole avoidable situation and ask what it says about him and the club that they can’t do what on the surface should be something as simple as getting you paperwork on time.

Personally, I try to remain sanguine on the matter. While I do think this is a sporting injustice, the upshot of the whole affair is that John Textor is no longer a stakeholder in the club and in view of his patchy record that’s a good thing for the club. John Textor has enjoyed great success at Botafogo but has run Lyon to ruin. He also tried to divest earlier in the season to buy Everton and there are some who suggest that he is not as sound as he makes out. Sacrificing a season in the Europa League is probably a fair price, to rid themselves of Textor, even if it’s wrong and should have been avoided.

With all that said, the irony is that had Textor been allowed more direct control over the club he probably would have placed Palace or Lyon’s shares into a Blind Trust an rendered the whole matter moot, so perhaps I’m upside down on this.

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