Nottingham Forest will be playing in Europe for the first time in 30 years when the football season returns in August.
The Reds face a two-legged play-off to make the group stages of the UEFA Conference League after finishing in seventh place in the Premier League last season.
Over the past few weeks, however, Crystal Palace have been sweating on their place in the Europa League and that has had implications for Forest too.
Amid the possibility that Palace might be kicked out of the Europa League, given John Textor’s breach of multi-club owner restrictions, Forest have been waiting on UEFA’s decision.
Evangelos Marinakis wrote to UEFA for clarification. Now, there appears to be a development and it should at the very least give Forest some closure on the matter.
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John Textor makes big call regarding shares in Crystal Palace
Overnight, it has been confirmed by The Times journalist Ed Aarons that Textor has sold his 45% stake in Crystal Palace to Woody Johnson.
As a result, it would appear as though UEFA will now sanction the Eagles and Lyon to both operate in the Europa League, with Forest confirmed for the Conference League.
Johnson is the co-owner of the New York Jets, and it is claimed that he’s purchased Textor’s stake for £171 million.
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It is not overly surprising that UEFA have allowed Palace time to sort this situation out, and now it looks as though Oliver Glasner’s team can look forward to their first-ever campaign in European competition.
Forest can make a genuine attempt at winning UEFA Conference League
The Reds fan base will naturally be a little bit anxious over the two-legged play-off, but if the team can come through that, there is a genuine opportunity for success.
The final will take place in Leipzig next May, and the hope from a Forest point of view is that the Reds will be jetting off to Germany.
It would have been great for Forest to get entry into the Europa League through the back door, but it does appear as though common sense has prevailed a little bit here.
Although Palace did miss the cut-off to submit their paperwork, Textor has moved quickly to sell his shares and that should give the Premier League outfit the nod for next season’s Europa League.