Crystal Palace will play in the Conference League after The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld organisers UEFA’s decision to demote the Eagles from the Europa League.
Palace lodged their appeal with the CAS in July, naming UEFA, French club Lyon and Nottingham Forest in their challenge.
UEFA imposed the sanction after Palace were found to have breached multi-club ownership regulations.
American investor John Textor held shares in the club while also serving as majority owner of Lyon, who are in this season’s Europa League.
Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League, are expected to take the Europa League spot from Palace, who qualified by winning the FA Cup and are now expected to explore their legal options.
Why are Palace in the Conference League?
UEFA rules prohibit clubs under the significant control of the same individual or entity from appearing in the same competition.
Palace, who have qualified for European competition for the first time in their history, failed to meet a deadline of March 1 to provide evidence of a restructuring that would address those concerns.
The club maintained that Textor did not exert decisive influence, but UEFA rejected that defence.
Textor has since sold his 43% stake to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson for £190 million.
Last week, chairman Steve Parish told the Rest is Football podcast he was “very hopeful” of a successful appeal.
In their submission, Palace asked for UEFA’s financial control body ruling to be annulled and for their reinstatement in the Europa League at the expense of either Forest or Lyon.
Glasner ‘can’t see why’ Palace are demoted
Speaking before his side beat Liverpool to win the 2025 Community Shield on Sunday, Palace manager Oliver Glasner described his outlook on the situation as “always positive”.
“I can’t see anything why we would should be demoted and why we should stay in the Conference League,” added the Austrian.
“I know how the club works and it is just the chairman and the people who work here daily that take the decisions.”
Palace’s Premier League campaign starts away to Chelsea, who are in this season’s Champions League, on Sunday (14:00 BST / 09:00 ET / 06:00 PT).
When will Palace play in the Conference League?
Palace have been drawn against Norwegian team Fredrikstad or Danish side Midtjylland in the Conference League play-offs.
Midtjylland, who finished second in last season’s Superliga, hold a 3-1 lead ahead of their home second leg against opponents who finished sixth in last season’s Eliteserien.
Palace will be at home in the first leg on August 21, with the return match a week later. The winners of the tie will advance to the league phase.
The league phase draw for the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League takes place at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, on Friday 29 August.
The draw for the league phase will take place in Monaco on August 29 and feature the 24 winners of the play-off round ties and the 12 losers from the Europa League play-offs.
When will Forest play in the Europa League?
Forest and Aston Villa are England’s representatives in the league phase of the Europa League, with the draw also taking place on August 29.
Matchday 1 is on September 24 and September 25, with the league phase running until January 29 2026.
