Crystal Palace players lift the FA Cup after defeating Man City 1-0 in the final at Wembley Stadium, London, England, 17/5/2025. Photo: Reuters

Winning the FA Cup last season theoretically guaranteed Crystal Palace a spot in the Europa League. However, UEFA prohibits two clubs with the same owner from playing in the same tournament. At the time of the official announcement, the London club's owner was American billionaire John Textor, who also owns Lyon – a team that qualified for the Europa League by finishing sixth in Ligue 1 last season.

Ultimately, UEFA allowed Lyon to participate in the 2025-2026 Europa League, pushing Crystal Palace down to the Conference League, Europe's third-tier competition. Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League last season, was promoted to the Europa League in Palace's place.

Palace chairman Steve Parish has publicly expressed his dissatisfaction. In an interview, he speculated that Nottingham Forest and their fans wouldn't feel proud or happy to benefit from the situation.

However, Parish and the club's management contributed to this situation through their lack of professionalism. Parish admitted to the British media that his staff had overlooked several emails from UEFA outlining the regulations.

The email address the club provided for receiving important updates and feedback regarding UEFA regulations, "info@cpfc.co.uk", was typically used for handling minor fan complaints (like why pies sold at the stadium had 13% less meat than the previous season) and for cursory replies to unimportant media inquiries, not for crucial information.

Football finance journalist Kieran Maguire reported last week that the Premier League had notified all club secretaries in 10/2024 about rule changes, emphasizing issues related to multi-club ownership. The 2024-2025 season also coincided with UEFA's decision to strictly enforce these rules, having already disqualified Drogheda Utd, the Irish Cup winners, from the UEFA Conference League for the same reason.

However, UEFA's consistency and fairness are debatable, as they allow Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig to compete in the same tournament, while barring Lyon and Crystal Palace. Similarly, Greek businessman Evangelos Marinakis used a "blind trust" to circumvent the rules, allowing both of his clubs, Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos, to participate in the upcoming Europa League.

These examples show that Crystal Palace and Parish could have avoided this situation with better administrative practices, such as paying closer attention to UEFA's warning emails and updates from the Premier League. Their fate now rests entirely on their upcoming appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Compiled by Ha Phuong