Crystal Palace’s Europa League hopes dealt blow after Lyon win relegation appeal

Crystal Palace’s hopes of playing in next season’s Europa League appear to have been dealt a major blow after Lyon overturned their relegation to Ligue 2.

The seven-time French champions’ demotion over financial issues was imposed last month by the country’s football watchdog, the DNCG. But Lyon, who are owned by John Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings, have earned a reprieve after an appeal hearing in Paris on Wednesday and are expected to take up their place in next season’s Europa League after finishing sixth last season.

The French football federation said in a statement that the decision by the DNCG’s appeal commission “invalidates the administrative relegation” and allowed for Lyon’s wage bill and transfer spend to be monitored.

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That is likely to have a major ramifications on Uefa’s decision on whether Palace, who qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup, will be cleared to participate in Europe after a ruling was delayed last week pending the outcome of Lyon’s appeal.

Clubs are barred from competing in the same Uefa competition if an individual or ownership group is considered to have a decisive influence over more than one of those teams. Textor remains Palace’s largest shareholder but the US businessman recently agreed a deal to sell his Palace shares to the New York Jets owner, Woody Johnson. The former US ambassador to the UK must pass the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test before he can complete the purchase but it is understood that is nearing completion.

Uefa sources have indicated that its Club Financial Control Body , which investigates alleged breaches of its multi-club ownership rules, is due to decide on Palace’s fate this week. With Lyon, who were fined €12.5m (£10.8m) by Uefa for a breach of financial sustainability requirements last week, having been cleared by Uefa to play in European competition if they were reinstated to France’s top flight, Palace’s prospects of joining Aston Villa as the Premier League’s representatives in the competition won by Tottenham last season appear slim.

There is a chance that they could be demoted to the Conference League, with Nottingham Forest taking Palace’s place in the Europa League.

Palace, who have never played in a major European competition, are expected to appeal to the court of arbitration for sport if they are barred from the Europa League. Last month Uefa rejected attempts from Textor and his Palace co-owner David Blitzer, the majority shareholder at Danish side Brøndby, to put their shares in a blind trust after they missed the 1 March deadline.

Textor announced last week that he had resigned from his leadership roles at Lyon, with Michael Gerlinger appointed as the chief executive and Michele Kang – who owns Washington Spirit and London City Lionesses and bought Lyon’s extremely successful women’s team from Eagle Football Holdings last year – as the chair and president. She is understood to have led Lyon’s appeal, with reports in France saying the club have agreed on an “austerity plan” designed to stabilise its finances after being asked to inject up to €200m to keep the club in Ligue 1.

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Kang was pictured meeting the French sports minister, Marie Barsacq, on Tuesday evening in a move widely interpreted as a positive sign before their hearing.

The club said in a statement: “Olympique Lyonnais welcomes today’s decision from the DNCG which restores our position in Ligue 1 and 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.”

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