CRYSTAL PALACE will appeal Uefa’s decision to remove them from the Europa League next season.
The Eagles earned a spot in Europe’s second tier following their 1-0 FA Cup final victory over Manchester City in May – however last week they were officially banned and relegated to the Conference League.
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At the time of the final, now-former Palace co-owner John Textor held stakes in both the south London club and Lyon, who are in the Europa League next season after finishing sixth and winning an appeal to avoid relegation from Ligue 1.
Eagles fans have already begun protesting the decision. Now, owner Steve Parish says the club isn’t backing down either.
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Parish said: “We are still fighting. There’s an appeal process, so we go to CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) which is the court for arbitration and, you know, 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.”
Uefa rules state no owner or co-owner can have a controlling interest in more than one club competing in the same European competition during the same season. Palace dispute that Textor did not have sufficient enough control.
As it stands, Palace will be replaced in the Europa League by Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh last term.
Forest will be £3.9million better off as a result of the decision.
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Parish continued: “We feel that there are a lot of very genuine mitigating circumstances and more than enough wriggle room to put us in the competition.
“It does look bad. This is the dream right? This is what keeps football alive.
“This is why everybody goes, because they think one day they might win a cup and they might qualify for Europe.
“These things can be defining moments for a club and completely change the course of history forever.
“Hopefully when we go to CAS we get the right answer.
“We get the written version of (the ruling) with the detail then apparently the appeal is 10 days.”
In a statement, Uefa said its Club Financial Control Body confirmed the decision by French financial chiefs had cleared Lyon’s path to take up their place in the Europa League.
The governing body said: “Consequently, the CFCB pursued the assessment of the documentation submitted by Lyons and Crystal Palace and concluded that the clubs breached, as at 1 March 2025, the multi-club ownership criteria foreseen in Art 5.01 of the Uefa Club Competition Regulations.
“For this reason the CFCB First Chamber decided: To accept Lyons’ admission to the 2025/26 Europa League.
“And to reject Crystal Palace’s admission to the 2025/26 Uefa Europa League and to accept Crystal Palace’s admission to the 2025/26 Uefa Conference League.”