UEFA ban team from Europe moments after delaying Crystal Palace decision
UEFA has announced that it is postponing its assessment of the case involving Crystal Palace and Lyon, but have confirmed that another club has been kicked out of Europe due to multi-club ownership.
Palace are in danger of a potential breach of multi-club ownership regulations as their majority shareholder, John Textor, has a controlling stake in Lyon, who were recently relegated to France's second-tier.
Both clubs have qualified for next season's Europa League and Palace argue that American businessman Textor has no say over decisions as he only has 25 per cent of the voting power.
UEFA regulations, meanwhile, deem that any party with at least 30 per cent of voting power has 'decisive influence' over a club.
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On Monday, UEFA delayed the ruling over Palace’s participation in next season’s Europa League as they explained the situation further in a statement.
It read: "This postponement relates to Olympique Lyonnais' compliance with the settlement agreement concluded with the CFCB First Chamber for its breach of the financial sustainability requirements.
"As part of this settlement, Olympique Lyonnais agreed on an exclusion from the 2025/26 UEFA club competitions should the French authority (DNCG) confirm the club's relegation to Ligue 2.
"Further details on this multi-club ownership case and this settlement agreement will be communicated in due course."
UEFA also confirmed on Monday that Slovak side FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda have been excluded from next season's Conference League as a result of multi-club ownership rules.
DAC 1904's owner Oszkár Világi also owns Hungarian side FC ETO Győr, who will compete in the same competition.
A statement from UEFA, as per Slovakia-based outlet ŠPORT.sk, read: "Based on the assessment of the documentation submitted by the clubs, the first chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body has concluded that FC ETO Győr and FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda have breached the multiple ownership rule set out in Article 5.01 of the UEFA Club Competitions Regulations on the relevant date of 1 March 2025."
As a result of the decision, the scheduled opponent that were drawn to play against DAC 1904 – the winner of the match between Armenian Urartu and Belarusian Neman Grodno – has been given a bye to the next preliminary round.
Two clubs have now been kicked out of European competitions due to a multi-club ownership
Drogheda United's expulsion from European football was confirmed earlier this month, after the League of Ireland side lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Drogheda, who had earned entry into the Conference League, were informed last week that they will not be permitted to compete. They are owned by the Trivela Group, who also have a majority stake in Danish Superliga club Silkeborg IF.
Both sides qualified for the Conference League by winning their major domestic cup last season, but Silkeborg finished seventh in the 2024/25 Danish Superliga, while Drogheda finished ninth out of 10 teams in the Irish top flight.
As a result, Silkeborg have been granted entry into the competition.
Topics: UEFA, Crystal Palace, Lyon, Europa Conference League, Europa League
Jack Kenmare