Crystal Palace's appeal to be reinstated into the UEFA Europa League has been rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland and so the Eagles will play in the UEFA Conference League this season.
Palace's admission to the 2025/26 Europa League after winning the FA Cup was rejected by UEFA last month due to a breach of European football’s governing body's multi-club ownership regulations.
UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) determined that US businessman John Textor’s ownership of a stake in Palace, via Eagle Football Holdings - which has since been sold - as well as a stake in French club Olympique Lyonnais, who have also qualified for the Europa League breached UEFA’s regulations on multi-club ownership. As a result it demoted Palace to the Conference League.
What did CAS say?
After a hearing at CAS on Friday, the court issued a statement that read: "After considering the evidence, the Panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in CPFC and OL and was a Board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of UEFA’s assessment date. The Panel also dismissed the argument by CPFC that they received unfair treatment in comparison to Nottingham Forest and OL.
"The Panel considered that the UEFA Regulations are clear and do not provide flexibility to clubs that are non-compliant on the assessment date, as CPFC claimed."
What happens next?
Palace will set to compete in a two-legged Conference League playoff tie against Norwegian side Fredrikstad or Midtjylland of Denmark, scheduled 21 and 28 August either side of a Premier League Matchweek 2 fixture against Nottingham Forest.
As a result the Matchweek 3 fixture between Aston Villa and Palace, which had been scheduled for Friday 29 August at 20:00 BST, will now move to Sunday 31 August at 19:00 BST.