Nottingham Forest will be playing in the Europa League next season after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Premier League counterparts Crystal Palace had breached UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules, and so they have been demoted to the Conference League.
Forest had originally qualified for the Conference League, the third European competition which UEFA introduced back in 2021, at the back end of last season having posted a seventh-placed finish, missing out on the fifth Champions League place by a point, but they’re now set to benefit from the CAS ruling at the expense of Palace.
The Eagles lifted the FA Cup back in May and, as a result, were set to join Aston Villa in the Europa League this coming season – but complications surfaced after it was pointed out that Palace mightn’t be compliant with the regulations, because minority shareholder John Textor also had shares in French side Lyon who had also qualified for the Europa League.
A hearing took place on Friday of last week in Lausanne, Switzerland, and following on from that event CAS have since ruled that Palace had indeed failed to remain within the multi-club ownership rules, and that as a result the Reds will play in the Europa League alongside Lyon, who finished higher in Ligue 1 than Oliver Glasner’s side did in England’s top flight.
Textor owns Eagle Football Holdings, which had shares in both Palace and Lyon. Required to address the situation before March 1, at which point Palace hadn’t yet won the FA Cup and so were unlikely to be competing in Europe this coming season, Palace hadn’t done so and UEFA do not offer any flexibility in such matters.
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