Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish declared it “a bad day for football” and “a terrible injustice” after the club were demoted to the Conference League after falling foul of UEFA’s rules on multi-club ownership.
Palace qualified for the Europa League thanks to their FA Cup final victory over Manchester City in May, but missed a March 1 deadline to demonstrate that American co-owner John Textor, also a part-owner at Lyon, had no control or influence over more than one club in the same competition.
UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) determined that Textor’s interest in both Palace and Lyon meant only one of the clubs could enter the Europa League, with Lyon’s higher league position edging out Palace.
Parish told Sky Sports: “We are obviously devastated, most importantly for the supporters. Supporters of all clubs should be devastated for it.
“This means something, you win a cup for the first time in your history and it’s like winning the lottery and going to the counter and not getting the prize.
“It is a bad day for football. Most right-minded football fans will see what a terrible injustice this is for the football club and one that I hope someone can remedy because I do believe that nobody in football wants to see this – I don’t think UEFA want to see it.
“Clubs that rightly qualify being locked out on the most ridiculous technicality that you could imagine.”
UEFA said the decision could be appealed against at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Parish said: “We are looking at all options. Appealing is one option. I think we would much prefer if someone intervened, we believe it is possible for someone to do that.
“There are a number of really important points people need to consider.”
Palace will drop into the Conference League, with Nottingham Forest expected to replace them in the Europa League, though this has not been confirmed by UEFA.
UEFA had to postpone a decision in the case pending the outcome of an appeal by Lyon against a decision by French football’s financial regulator to relegate them to the second division.
Lyon had reached a settlement with UEFA agreeing to be excluded from European competition if that relegation was upheld on appeal, but on Wednesday the club learned they had overturned the original decision and held on to their top-flight spot.
At that point, Palace’s prospects of playing in the Europa League appeared to recede considerably.
Textor has agreed to sell his shareholding in Palace to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson.
Parish added: “Yesterday we received Premier League approval for the deal. The deal will be completed some time over the weekend, or Monday or Tuesday.
“It’s 100 per cent certain and UEFA know that’s a done deal.
“By the time we get to the competition, John won’t have anything to do with Crystal Palace and he won’t have anything to do with Lyon.”
