Crystal Palace’s Europa League Spot in Limbo After Lyon Wins Appeal

The fate of Crystal Palace’s place in next season’s Europa League is up in the air after the French soccer regulator overturned a ruling relegating Olympique Lyonnais.

Both Crystal Palace of the U.K. and Olympique Lyonnais of France have qualified for the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League tournament; up until very recently, John Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings Limited owned majority stakes in both teams. Late last month, the French football financial regulator, the DNCG, initially ruled that Lyon would be relegated to France’s second division due to financial irregularities—a decision that appeared to solve the multi-club conflict by default.

But that ruling was overturned this week on appeal, putting both clubs back on a collision course with UEFA’s strict rules on multi-club ownership. (Under UEFA rules, teams with common shareholders cannot play in the same European competition in the same season.) 

Textor, under pressure to bring his soccer empire into compliance, has been taking action in recent weeks. Last month, he agreed to sell his 43% stake in Crystal Palace to Jets owner Woody Johnson, and later stepped down as Lyon’s CEO, handing control to Michele Kang, who owns the NWSL’s Washington Spirit. It is not clear whether those two moves will assuage UEFA, which was reportedly miffed that Textor missed a deadline to put his Lyon shares into a blind trust and did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. 

Lyon issued a statement Wednesday in response to the news of its successful appeal, saying it “is grateful that the Appeal Commission recognises the ambition of the Club’s new management to ensure a professionalised administration of its affairs going forward.”

“The new management, aided by the commitment and dedication of our shareholders and lenders, is extremely grateful for all the support it has received from inside and outside the Club, including from fans, staff, players, partners and elected officials,” Lyon said. “Today’s decision is the first step in restoring confidence in Olympique Lyonnais and we now return our focus to creating success on the pitch, ready for next season.”

Textor reportedly expressed confidence this week that Crystal Palace will be allowed to play in Europa League, while admitting he cannot “predict in advance” what UEFA will do.

Textor’s Eagle Football holds stakes in several soccer clubs, including Lyon in France, Daring Brussels in Belgium, and Botafogo in Brazil. It previously unsuccessfully sought to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (or SPAC) merger, and last month made a confidential filing to go public via IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Representatives for Eagle Football and UEFA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.