Crystal Palace fans got some surprising news! The team has been moved down from the Europa League to the third-tier Conference League, while Lyon from France will stay in the Europa League. This all happened because of UEFA’s rules about owning more than one club in European competitions.
Here’s what went down:
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Crystal Palace made it to the Europa League by winning the FA Cup last season.
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Lyon also qualified for the Europa League after finishing sixth in France’s Ligue 1.
But both clubs have links to the same owner! Eagle Football Group owns most of Lyon, and their boss, John Textor, also controls Crystal Palace. That’s not allowed under UEFA rules, because one person or group can’t have power over two clubs playing in European tournaments at the same time.
UEFA checked all the paperwork and said both teams broke the rules as of March 1, 2025. Since both teams made it to the Europa League, UEFA decided Lyon would keep their spot because they finished higher in their league (6th in Ligue 1) than Palace did in the Premier League (12th).
To try and fix things, Textor resigned from his job at Lyon, and Palace even found a new buyer: New York Jets co-owner Woody Johnson is set to buy Palace’s shares (if the Premier League approves). But it wasn’t fast enough—Palace missed UEFA’s deadline to make the changes.
John Textor, who loves both clubs, said he was “stunned” by the decision, saying, “We did everything possible to separate the clubs as UEFA wanted, but still got punished. We even sold out of a club I love to help Palace fans keep dreaming.”
Lyon had their own problems earlier, too—they were almost sent down to France’s second division because of bad finances, but that was overturned.
Now, Palace might try to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but if the ruling stands, Nottingham Forest could be bumped up to the Europa League! Forest finished seventh last season and originally qualified for the Conference League.
Uefa demote Crystal Palace to the Conference League pic.twitter.com/pRn8yYMQ2V
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) July 11, 2025
UEFA’s rules are clear:
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No one can own or control two clubs playing in European competitions at the same time.
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One person can’t manage or have major influence over more than one team in these competitions.
It’s a complicated situation, and the final decision might still change, but for now, Palace’s big FA Cup win won’t be enough for Europa League football next season.
