Crystal Palace have criticised Uefa’s multi-club ownership (MCO) rules after their appeal against demotion from the Europa League was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas). The FA Cup winners will now compete in the Conference League, a decision they say makes “sporting merit rendered meaningless”.
Cas upheld Uefa’s decision to demote Palace because John Textor held shares and had a decisive influence in both Palace and Lyon, who also qualified for the Europa League. Textor has since sold his 44.9% stake in the club to Woody Johnson. Palace expect to miss out on up to £20m in extra revenue as a result.
In a strongly worded statement, Palace claimed “certain clubs, organisations and individuals have a unique privilege and power” and that “multi-club structures hide behind the charade of a ‘blind trust’ while clubs such as ours, who have no connection to another club whatsoever, are prevented from playing in the same competition”. They also criticised the Cas process, saying it was “designed to severely restrict and, in our case, make it almost impossible to receive a fair hearing”.
Palace missed the original 1 March deadline to place their ownership in a blind trust, but argued that only European Club Association (ECA) members were informed the deadline could be extended to 31 May. Cas rejected this, stating Uefa’s regulations were clear “and do not provide flexibility to clubs that are noncompliant on the assessment date”.
Palace called for Uefa to “pass coherent rules which are properly communicated and applied” and said they would continue to take legal advice on whether to claim compensation. Cas defended its process, noting that all parties were given a formal opportunity to raise concerns on 8 August 2025 and no objections were raised.
