Premier League club to hold ’emergency meeting’ with UEFA amid potential ban

Premier League club Crystal Palace will hold talks with UEFA over their place in European football next season amid a potential breach of multi-club ownership rules, according to latest report.

Against all odds, Crystal Palace won the FA Cup – their first major trophy – last month after beating Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 1-0 at Wembley.

The victory means they will play in the Europe for the first time as a result, having qualified for the Europa League. However, latest report from Daily Mail has claimed their spot in that competition is not yet totally secure.

Reports claim Palace will hold an ’emergency summit’ with UEFA on Tuesday.

The issue relates to majority shareholder John Textor’s ownership of Palace and that of French club Lyon, and the situation surrounding Danish side Brondby.

Crystal Palace celebrate winning English football’s FA Cup for the first time (Photo by Kyodo News via Getty Images)

The American businessman owns around 45 per cent of Palace, and also has majority ownership of Lyon through the Eagle Holdings Group.

Lyon qualified for the Europa League by finishing sixth in Ligue 1, with UEFA regulations banning two clubs owned by the same party from competing in the same European competition.

Those regulations also state that, if a conflict was to occur, the club who finished in the higher league position would be awarded the qualification spot.

Though reports claimed Palace have officially declined to comment, it is understood that they are ‘confident’ of their participation in the Europa League as Textor only holds 25 per cent of voting rights at the club and ‘does not make decisions in his own right’.

But if a worst-case scenario does occur, competing in the Conference League may be an issue as Palace co-owner David Blitzer – who only has around 10 per cent of the shareholding at Selhurst Park – is the majority owner of Brondby, who have qualified for that competition by finishing third in the Danish Superliga.