Crystal Palace Loses Final Europa League Appeal After Ownership Snafu

Crystal Palace will not be playing in the Europa League next season after losing an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Swiss-based international arbitration court on Monday rejected an attempt from the English soccer club to appeal a UEFA decision booting it from the 2025–26 Europa League, ruling that John Textor failed to follow the European soccer governing body’s multi-club ownership rules.

The saga has been going on all summer. Two clubs Textor held significant ownership stakes in through Eagle Football Holdings Limited—Crystal Palace in the U.K. and Olympique Lyonnais in France—each qualified for the Europa League last season. But under UEFA rules, teams with shared owners who have “decisive influence” can’t compete in the same continental tournament. 

There have been several recent instances of UEFA enforcing the multi-club rules as more investors enter soccer. In June, Irish club Drogheda United lost its appeal of a UEFA decision removing the team from its 2025–26 Conference League due to non-compliance with multi-club ownership rules (both Drogheda United and Danish side Silkeborg IF are owned by U.S. investment firm Trivela Group).

Crystal Palace and Textor had projected confidence earlier in the summer, especially after Lyon was relegated to the second level of French soccer, Ligue 2, over financial irregularities. But after a successful appeal in July the French club found its way back to Ligue 1—and the Europa League.

Meanwhile, Textor tried to become compliant under UEFA rules by offloading his 43% stake in Crystal Palace to Jets owner Woody Johnson, but last month the UEFA determined that deal was too late and kicked Crystal Palace out of the Europa League, handing its spot to Nottingham Forest. According to the UEFA, all ownership changes needed to happen before March 1 in order to be in place for the next season. Part of the reason Textor failed to sell his Crystal Palace stake in time is because ownership apparently did not see multiple UEFA emails notifying clubs of a new deadline for owners with stakes in multiple teams to put their shares in a blind trust. The messages were reportedly sent to Crystal Palace’s general email address.

Following an in-person hearing on Friday in Switzerland, a three-person panel for the CAS determined that Textor held shares in both teams and was a board member with “decisive influence” at the time the UEFA assessed the situation.

“Regulations are clear and do not provide flexibility to clubs that are non-compliant on the assessment date, as [Crystal Palace] claimed,” CAS said in its Monday statement.

Crystal Palace will still get to play in European competition next season through the UEFA Conference League, one step down from Europa. The exact financial difference for a club that competes in Europa League versus the UEFA Conference League was not clear, but is without question a substantial amount. Clubs that played in the 2023–24 Europa League were guaranteed a minimum payout of at least $4.2 million (€3.63 million) from the UEFA, compared to $3.4 million (€2.94 million) for clubs that qualify for the Conference League, according to information provided by the UEFA to teams that year. The total payout for clubs in Europa League can rise much higher depending on performance, TV market share, and other factors.

The outcome represents a cautionary tale for would-be soccer investors looking to replicate the hypergrowth that Wrexham’s celebrity owners have seen in recent years.

“The fact that Ryan Reynolds pulled it off is not because Wrexham had any special sauce,” one industry source recently told Front Office Sports. “It’s a pipe dream for people to think they can be Ryan Reynolds.”

Eagle Football Holdings, Nottingham Forest, and UEFA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Crystal Palace beat Liverpool on penalties for the Community Shield on Sunday.