Palace Champions or Competition Victims? Why Their Europa League Ban Feels Deeply Unjust"
Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson, fresh from that eye-catching Community Shield win over Liverpool, didn’t mince his words. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, he slammed UEFA’s decision to relegate Palace to the Conference League as “unfair”—even going so far as to say it would “devalue” the Europa League.
In July, UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body made a dramatic ruling: due to multi-club ownership rules, Crystal Palace would be stripped of their Europa League spot and demoted to the third-tier Conference League. The reason? Their owner, John Textor, also holds a controlling stake in Olympique Lyonnais. Meanwhile, Lyon, despite being in a similar situation, was allowed to continue in the Europa League.
Palace didn’t accept the ruling quietly. They appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which held a closed-door hearing on August 8. Now the club—and their fans—are bracing for the verdict, expected this coming Monday.
Henderson made an emotional plea: “We win the FA Cup; we are justified to be in the Europa League. For football purposes, we deserve to be in the Europa League.” It’s a sentiment many fans echo—shouldn’t victory on the pitch matter more than technicalities off it?
The club highlighted a potential way out in June, announcing that New York Jets co-owner Robert Wood “Woody” Johnson had legally committed to buying Eagle Football Holding’s stake in Crystal Palace. But the move came too late—the March deadline to comply with UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules had already slipped by.
“Fighting Until the Finish”
Still, Henderson remains hopeful: “I know our chairman, Steve Parish, has fought hard against this, and fingers crossed, we’re reinstated in the Europa League—like we absolutely deserve.”
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