Palace Euro Ban Explained: Why Brighton Could Benefit

Crystal Palace are at risk of being kicked out of the Europa League despite having won the FA Cup

Crystal Palace have qualified for the Europa League – but might not actually get to play in the competition.

The Eagles won a first major trophy in their 119-year history last month, with Ebere Eze’s sole strike clinching the FA Cup for Oliver Glasner’s side against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium.

But having qualified for Europe on the back of that cup success, their participation in the Europa League is at threat, thanks to their owners’ stake in another club in that competition.

Why are Crystal Palace at threat of being kicked out of Europe?

Crystal Palace’s majority owner John Textor – who controls 45 per cent of the South London outfit – is the president and owner of Lyon, who like Palace, have qualified for the Europa League next season.

Under UEFA’s so-called Multi-Club Ownership (MCO) rule, “no individual or legal entity may have ‘control or decisive influence’ over more than one club” competing in European competition, in order to limit multi-club ownership in Europe’s top leagues.

What are Palace planning to do about this?

The South London outfit must now show UEFA’s club financial control body (CFCB) that they do not fall foul of the rules around multi-club ownership.

Despite Textor’s majority stake in Palace, the American businessman does not have a defining voice in the boardroom, with his group Eagle Football only having a 25 per cent share of voting rights alongside fellow principal owners Josh Harris, David Blitzer and chairman Steve Parish, who all own 10 per cent of the club each.

This has actually been a source of contention for Textor in the past, with the 59-year-old announcing his intention to buy Everton last year, to avoid the politics of the Selhurst Park backroom.

Given that Lyon finished sixth in Ligue 1, the French giants are given precedence to appear in the competition ahead of Palace, who finished 12th in the Premier League.

Wouldn’t Palace simply qualify for the Conference League if they lose their case?

You’d think so… but there’s an added spanner in the works: David Blitzer owns a majority stake in Brondby, with his Global Football Holdings company.

The Danish side qualified for the Conference League next term via a third-placed finish in the league – again, higher than Palace’s 12th – and if Palace’s case for playing in the Europa is that Blitzer and Co. have more of a say than Textor when it comes to the running of the Eagles, it doesn’t bode well for participation in the Conference League.

How can Palace keep their place in the Europa League?

While Palace hope that Textor’s current involvement is enough to satisfy UEFA, official steps can be taken, should they fail to convince the CFCB that no rules have been breached.

Recently, Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis made similar moves to ensure no conflict of interest between the Tricky Trees and his Greek club, Olympiacos, by officially ceasing to be a ‘person with significant control’ in the limited company that owned the club.

By putting his shares in Forest into a blind trust, the Greek businessman remained co-owner at the City Ground while no longer having a say in the running of the club.

Could Brighton profit from all of this?

Potentially: as the next best-placed team in the Premier League, Brighton and Hove Albion are on standby to pick up a European spot in the event that their bitter rivals are denied theirs.

The Seagulls would qualify for the Conference League, should Palace get kicked out of Europe, with Forest getting a promotion to the Europa League instead, as a higher-placed team in the table.

Is it likely that Palace will be kicked out?

We simply don’t know, and neither do UEFA right now, dropping a vague comment that “We do not comment on individual club cases until an official decision has been made.”

We will find out sometime this month but given that the CFCB cleared both Manchester clubs last summer, FourFourTwo expects this one to be fairly straightforward on paper for Palace.

Fourfourtwo.com