As Nottingham Forest continue to wait for clarification over which UEFA competition they will be in next season, a second club has been booted out of Europe.
The Reds are waiting to find out whether they will keep their Conference League spot or be upgraded to the Europa League. Their fate is tied to Premier League rivals Crystal Palace, who qualified for the latter when they lifted the FA Cup last month.
However, the Eagles are in danger of losing their Europa League spot amid a question mark over whether they have breached multi-club ownership rules. If they are kicked out of Europe, Forest would be in line to take their place in the second tier tournament.
A decision on Palace’s situation had been expected today (Monday). However, UEFA announced they had postponed a verdict.
In the meantime, it has been confirmed Slovakian club DAC 1904 Dunajska Streda have been expelled from the Conference League. They join League of Ireland side Drogheda United in being booted out of Europe due to falling foul of the same multi-club ownership rules Palace are at risk of breaching.
Dunajska Streda have the same owner as Hungarian team Gyori ETO. Drogheda are owned by Trivela Group, which also has a majority interest in Danish qualifiers Silkeborg. Drogheda had appealed against their expulsion from the Conference League, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the original decision.
A statement from UEFA said: “Following the assessment of the documentation submitted by the clubs, the CFCB First Chamber concluded that Gyori ETO FC and FC DAC 1904 Dunajska Streda breached, at the relevant assessment date (1 March 2025), the multi-club ownership rule foreseen in Art 5.01 of the UEFA club competition regulations.
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“For this reason, and in accordance with Article 5.02 of the UEFA club competition regulations, the CFCB First Chamber decided to: Accept Gyori ETO FC’s admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League; and Reject FC DAC 1904 Dunajska Streda’s admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League.
“This follows an earlier decision on the case involving Drogheda United FC and Silkeborg IF, where the CFCB First Chamber had decided to: Accept Silkeborg IF’s admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League; and Reject Drogheda United FC’s admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League.”
Outgoing Palace shareholder John Textor has an interest in French club Lyon, who also qualified for the Europa League. UEFA announced today (Monday) it needed more time to make a ruling and said Lyon had reached a settlement which would exclude them from European competition next season if a decision to relegate them to the French second tier was upheld. That relegation is the subject of an appeal by the French club. It was also announced today that Textor had resigned from his leadership positions at Lyon.
The European football governing body said of the Palace case: "Finally, the CFCB First Chamber has decided to postpone its assessment of the multi-club ownership case involving Olympique Lyonnais and Crystal Palace.
"This postponement relates to Olympique Lyonnais' compliance with the settlement agreement concluded with the CFCB First Chamber for its breach of the financial sustainability requirements. As part of this settlement, Olympique Lyonnais agreed on an exclusion from the 2025/26 UEFA club competitions should the French authority (DNCG) confirm the club's relegation to Ligue 2. Further details on this multi-club ownership case and this settlement agreement will be communicated in due course."
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