Crystal Palace European dream smashed by Uefa

Their FA Cup final victory, the first major trophy in their history, was the thing that dreams are made of and seen as a chance to be a transformative moment for the future of Crystal Palace. The triumph guaranteed them a place in the lucrative Europa League and the possibilities that competition opened to them.

Then, out of the blue, that opportunity was cruelly taken away from them.

The 1-0 final win over Man City back in May rekindled nostalgic ideas around the FA Cup, evoking hopes that beyond the cynicism of the monied, professional game, that a ‘small club’ could still break through the financial behemoths like City and make the big leap into the European competitions and the resulting rewards once seen as beyond them.

Well, this week, Palace had their worst fears realized when Uefa announced that they would not be playing in the Europa League that they justifiably qualified for, but rather would be dropped to Europe’s next and lowest tier of competition the Europa Conference League. And to add insult to injury, were told that they wouldn’t play in the Conference League group stages proper but rather made to play to qualify for the group stages.

Lyon President John Textor, left, and head coach Paulo Fonseca. File picture: Olivier Chassignole/Getty

Owners

Just for the record, Palace were told by Uefa that they wouldn’t be in the Europa League because they breached the competition multi-club ownership rules. The same breach that also saw League of Ireland side Drogheda United kicked out of the Europa League. But the case against the Drogs was a bit more clear cut.

American businessman John Textor owns a stake in the Eagles and is also the majority owner of French club Lyon, who have also qualified for the Europa League.

It was deemed that in a multi-club ownership situation, where two clubs with the same owners qualify for the same competition, only one would be allowed to play. In this situation it was deemed to be Lyon.

And here we have the next injustice for Palace. Lyon only qualified on a goal difference position in their league table allowing them to claim a place only by way of PSG winning the French league and cup competitions freeing a space on the table for Lyon to get into the Europa League. Even at that, they only got the nod ahead of Palace only because Lyon finished higher in the French league than Palace did in the Premier League last season, despite the obvious superiority of the Premier League not been considered. So, unlike Palace, Lyon didn’t win a cup or finish in a top qualifying spot to gain entry into the Europa League, only making it by default, goal difference, and last season’s finish to make the Europa League.

'Rules'

The actual rule that saw Palace kicked out is a bit suspect too.

While there is a conflict of interest and corruption logic to not having multi-clubs owned by the same owner competing in the same competition at the same time, the situation for Palace was far from this scenario. Textor is the main owner in Lyon, but he was a minority shareholder in Palace meaning he had no real say in the running of the club. There is no record of a relationship between the clubs. They don’t share players, facilities or financing and have not even played friendlies.

Even when Textor sold his shares in Palace in a bid to allow them enter the Europa League, Uefa deemed it was too late, stating that he and Palace had missed a deadline of March 25 to sell his interest in the club. But that was before Palace were even aware they were part of a multi-club ownership situation and long before the final that actually qualified them for the Europa League.

It’s not like there hasn’t been a precedent of letting clubs owned by the same owners compete in the same European competition before.

Crystal Palace fans let off flares during a protest march from Norwood Clocktower to Selhurst Park.

Back in 2018, Red Bull Salzburg and Red Bull Leipzig competed in the actual same group of the Europa League but were allowed to play because Red Bull said that while they were the majority owner of both clubs, they had removed themselves from any decision-making in the clubs. Seems unfair again on Palace when you can see that Textor had no input on what the club was doing.

And let’s not forget that Girona and Man City were allowed in the Champions League last season, even though again City’s owners had a 47% sharehold in the Spanish side.

The sides got away with it by City’s owners, City Football Group (CFG), putting their shares in Girona in an independent blind trust during the season. Conveniently reverting to CFG at the season end, this June. A very appeasing loophole for the City owners. But it was done within the deadline that Palace were again unaware as the Eagles didn't consider themselves in a multi-club situation.

Injustice

The irony is that Palace's Premier League replacement in the Europa League will be Nottingham Forest, who are most definitely part of a multi-club consortium.

Crystal Palace co-owner and chairman Steve Parish on stage at Selhurst Park during the FA Cup winners parade in London.

Palace fans protested the severity of the Uefa decision this week at Selhurst Park and chairman Steve Parish, described it as “probably one of the greatest injustices that has ever happened in football”. Algeria’s 1982 World Cup team might question the extent of that claim. But one can’t deny that if this situation was affecting the Premier League clubs north of the Thames it would be very unlikely that they would have suffered the same punishment.

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