Palace to appeal Europa League expulsion as Parish claims Forest influenced decision

Crystal Palace will appeal their expulsion from the Europa League, with chairman Steve Parish claiming Nottingham Forest pushed for UEFA to demote the Eagles to the Conference League.

Last week, UEFA confirmed the FA Cup winners had been thrown out of the Europa League and would instead play in Europe's third-tier tournament in 2025-26.

That decision came about due to a multi-club ownership issue, as John Textor's company, Eagle Football Holdings, held a 43.9% stake in Palace while controlling Lyon.

Lyon were provisionally relegated from Ligue 1 and kicked out of Europe over financial issues last month. However, they won an appeal against that decision and will now remain in the French top-flight and Europe's second-tier competition, at the expense of Palace.

Textor has since sold his shares in Palace to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and resigned from his leadership role at Lyon, though those actions came too late to alter UEFA's ruling.

Palace have argued Textor had no meaningful influence at Selhurst Park and have pledged to appeal, with Parish confirming they intend to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). 

"We are still fighting," he told Gary Lineker on The Rest is Football podcast. "There's an appeal process, so we go to CAS, which is the court for arbitration, and we're very hopeful. We think we've got great legal arguments.

"We don't think this is the right decision by any means. We know unequivocally that John didn't have decisive influence over the club. We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it's a fact.

"There are many legal points we have about the validity of the rule, the date and the way it was communicated. Hopefully, when we go to CAS, we'll get the right answer."

Should UEFA's decision be upheld, Forest will take Palace's place in the Europa League, having qualified for the Conference League via their Premier League position of seventh.

And Parish feels Forest – whose owner Evangelos Marinakis placed his shares in a blind trust in order to get around multi-club ownership rules, due to his control of Olympiacos – have influenced UEFA's process.

"We're led to believe that's the issue," Parish said, when asked if Forest had petitioned for Palace's expulsion.

"If there wasn't someone who wanted to get in as a consequence, then there wouldn't be a problem.

"People have to look at themselves in terms of what they do. Some people say it's fine, some say it's not. I don't have control of that. I have control of the arguments we put forward to UEFA.

"It does look bad. We're a medium-sized club. This is the dream. It's what keeps football alive. It's why everyone goes. One day, you might win a cup and qualify for Europe.

"People say, 'you're in the Conference League, so that's fine', but if you win the Europa League, you get into the Champions League. These can be defining moments for clubs and can completely change the course of a club's history forever. 

"Football has to take a look at itself and decide what it wants. I am led to believe that there are forces that don't want the cup winners to get into that competition."