Crystal Palace co-owner John Textor agreed to sell his shares in order for the club to play in the Europa League (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Crystal Palace co-owner John Textor agreed to sell his shares in order for the club to play in the Europa League (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Sam Tabuteau
©Evening Standard
Today at 16:24
Lyon have been successful in their appeal against their relegation from Ligue 1, in a potential blow to Crystal Palace’s hopes of playing in the Europa League next season and suffer the same fate as LOI Premier Division side Drogheda United, who were dismissed from the 2025-26 Uefa Conference League.
French club Lyon have maintained their Ligue 1 status following an appeal hearing and are now expected to keep their place in the Europa League.
Uefa rules on multi-club ownership prevent two teams with the same ownership from playing in the same competition.
FA Cup winners Palace are facing the threat of expulsion from the Europa League because co-owner John Textor also owns a majority stake in Ligue 1 side Lyon.
Palace argue that Textor does not hold any decisive influence at Selhurst Park and last month agreed to sell his 43pc stake in the club to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson in a deal thought to be worth close to £190m. Textor also last month resigned from his position on the Lyon board.
But Palace missed the March deadline to change their ownership structures to comply with UEFA multi-club ownership rules.
Palace now face a nervous wait for a Uefa ruling. They will almost certainly launch a legal fight against any decision to ban them from the Europa League next season.
Drogheda's appeal against their dismissal from the 2025-26 Uefa Conference League was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
They were expelled by Uefa under a rule which states two clubs in the same competition cannot be under the same ownership, with US-based Trivela Group also owning Danish side Silkeborg.
Uefa rules mean the lower-ranked team, in this case Drogheda, are excluded from the competition.
Drogheda won the FAI Cup in November 2024 as a semi-professional side. However, Silkeborg's seventh-place finish in the Danish league outweighs Drogheda's ninth place in the League of Ireland Premier Division.