Crystal Palace's Europa League spot in doubt as Lyon's Ligue 1 relegation overturned

Crystal Palace’s Europa League spot has been placed in fresh doubt after Lyon won their appeal against being demoted from France’s top tier.

Palace are waiting to hear if UEFA will allow them to compete in the same European competition as Lyon because John Textor owns around 43 per cent of the FA Cup winners and is the majority shareholder at the French club.

UEFA rules state that clubs that share owners are not permitted to participate in the same competition. Palace are confident that they will be cleared to compete after stating their case in Switzerland last month, arguing that Textor has no influence over day to day operations at Selhurst Park.

Since then Lyon have been relegated from Ligue 1 due to financial issues relating to their expenditure on players - only to be reinstated on Wednesday following an appeal. Textor announced last week that he had resigned from his leadership roles at Lyon.

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A statement from Lyon on their relegation being overturned said: "Olympique Lyonnais is pleased with the decision, made today by the DNCG (Ligue 1’s disciplinary body), to keep the Club in Ligue 1.

"OL thanks the Appeal Commission for recognizing the ambition of the Club's new management, determined to ensure serious management in the future. The new management, supported by the commitment and dedication of our shareholders and lenders, is extremely grateful for all the support received both within and outside the Club, particularly from its supporters, staff, players, partners, and elected officials. Today's decision marks the first step in restoring confidence in Olympique Lyonnais.

"We can now focus our attention on sporting objectives, fully preparing for the next season."

Palace had been expecting to hear UEFA’s decision last week but it was delayed until the outcome of Lyon’s domestic appeal was announced.

In the season just completed both Manchester United and Nice, and Manchester City and Girona had to ensure "significant changes" were made for all four to be permitted entry to the Europa League and Champions League.

That included appointing an independent trustee, supervised by UEFA's Club Financial Control Body, which had "the effective control and decision-making of" Nice and Girona.

Directors were also forced to resign from the clubs’ boards while they were banned from transferring players to each other and from sharing commercial agreements or scouting databases.

Palace’s case is complicated by the club missing an earlier deadline to register the club in an independent trust. UEFA had moved the date to make submissions to March - well before the club were in contention to win the FA Cup for a first time.

Rules state that if Palace are unable to meet UEFA's demands they would be able to drop down to the Conference League.

But that is complicated by Brondby, which is owned by another of the Selhurst Park club’s minority owners David Blitzer, already qualifying for that competition via the Danish league and that ranking takes precedence over teams who qualify by winning a domestic cup competition.

In the event that Palace are denied entry their bitter rivals Brighton would find themselves in the Conference League on account of finishing ninth in the Premier League with Nottingham Forest promoted to the Europa.

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