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Crystal Palace, an English team which plays in the Premier League, lifted their first ever major trophy win, sealing a 1–0 victory over Manchester City in the 2025 FA Cup final, as well as ensuring qualification in the UEFA Europa League for the first time. This victory meant that Crystal Palace had won a major trophy for the first time in 164 years, leading to them competing in the European competition for the first time.
However, the club have been handed a massive setback as have been demoted to the UEFA Europa Conference League from the UEFA Europa League due to a breach of multi-club ownership rules. According to reports, Nottingham Forest are set to take Crystal Palace’s place in the Europa League for the upcoming campaign, having finished seventh on the table in the Premier League last season. Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano informed, “Crystal Palace owners and directors are converging on New York for an emergency meeting tonight to discuss next steps after UEFA demoted the FA Cup winners to the Conference League.”
Crystal Palace remain uncertain about their future in Europa League: Reports
UEFA came to the decision of demoting the club due to the owner John Textor’s involvement in both clubs - Crystal Palace and the French side Lyon. Both of these teams qualified for the Europa League last season. Lyon had recently been demoted to the Ligue 2 due to the club’s financial instability, which meant that it was likely for Palace to play the Europa league without any ownership issues. However, Lyon appealed against the decision and recently emerged victorious in the court which limited Palace’s chances to play in the Europa League.
Crystal Palace claimed to UEFA that their owner John Textor had sold his 43% stakes to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. This meant that Textor did not have enough power to single-handedly influence the club’s decisions. However, UEFA did not support Palace’s claim and their place in the Europa League still remains uncertain.