Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has expressed confidence that the club will win its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and secure a place in the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League.
The appeal comes after UEFA ruled that Palace would only be eligible to compete in the UEFA Europa Conference League, due to concerns over multi-club ownership rules.
The decision was based on UEFA’s regulations, which prevent two clubs under the same ownership from participating in the same UEFA competition in the same season.
“We don’t have any influence over UEFA’s decision, and we have no influence over what CAS decides either, so there’s no point wasting time thinking about it,” Glasner told The Guardian on Wednesday (Aug 6).
“Our focus is on what we can control what we do on the pitch, building the spirit in this team, the togetherness, the commitment. That’s what we concentrate on every single day. We’re still waiting on the final decision, and we remain confident the appeal will go in our favor and that we’ll be playing in the Europa League. But whatever happens, we’ll know by August 11, and then we’ll begin preparing for European competition,” he added.
The situation stems from the fact that Crystal Palace’s majority owner, John Textor, also holds a significant stake in French club Olympique Lyon. However, Palace have argued that the ownership structure was revised before UEFA’s deadline to avoid any conflict of interest.
According to the club, Textor has sold most of his shares in Lyon to other investors, including Woody Johnson, and submitted evidence of the restructuring to UEFA. Palace have also emphasized that football operations at the club—such as the hiring of Oliver Glasner are not influenced by Textor, in an effort to show there’s no interference or shared control.
Palace qualified for the Europa League by winning the 2024/25 FA Cup, which normally secures direct entry to the competition. However, due to UEFA’s ruling, that Europa League spot has temporarily been handed to Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League last season.
A similar case involved Olympique Lyon, who were also at risk of being excluded from the Europa League. However, they successfully appealed and are now cleared to participate.
