Crystal Palace are due to meet UEFA officials on Tuesday as they plead their case to be allowed to compete in Europe next season.
If Palace are to keep their place in the Europa League, they must convince UEFA’s club financial control body at the formal hearing in Switzerland that they do not fall foul of its multi-club ownership rules.
Palace qualified for the competition by stunning Manchester City to win the FA Cup at Wembley last month, the first piece of major silverware in the club’s history.
Their co-owner John Textor holds a 43 per cent stake in the club through his Eagle Football multi-club group, which also owns a controlling 88 per cent stake in French club Lyon, who qualified for the Europa League by finishing sixth in Ligue 1.
UEFA rules states that no individual is allowed to have “control or influence” over the running of two clubs competing in the same competition.
Standard Sport reported last month that Palace are confident they comply with UEFA rules, and that remains the case. The club declined to comment ahead of the summit in Switzerland.
Palace believe Textor cannot be said to have a controlling influence over the club due to the fact the American only has a 25 per cent share of voting rights, alongside fellow co-owners David Blitzer, John Textor and chairman Steve Parish. It is Parish who runs the club operationally on a daily basis.
UEFA rules also state: “No one may simultaneously be involved in any capacity whatsoever in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition.”
UEFA were aware of the potential conflict last month but waited until Lyon’s Europa League place was confirmed before looking into the case and summoning Palace officials to a meeting.
UEFA rules state that, if breaches are found, the club which finished higher in its domestic league retains its place.
If Palace’s ownership was found to contravene the regulations, that would have originally meant them dropping down to the Conference League because their 12th-place Premier League finish was lower than Lyon’s in Ligue 1.
But that Conference League spot would now go to Danish side Brondby - owned by Palace minority shareholder Blitzer - who are in a Conference League play-off and finished third in Denmark.
Palace therefore run the risk of missing out on Europe altogether, if UEFA finds Textor’s involvement in Lyon and the Eagles to be in breach of its rules.
That would see their Europa League place transferred to seventh-place Nottingham Forest and could open the door for Palace’s rivals Brighton to compete in the Conference League, after they finished eighth.
One solution could be for Textor to instead place either club in a blind trust for a year, thereby pausing any involvement or “influence” and allowing both Palace and Lyon to compete in the Europa League as planned.
Evangelos Marinakis has already placed Nottingham Forest in a blind trust in order to comply with UEFA rules, because he is the controlling shareholder of both Forest and Greek champions Olympiacos, who will both be in Europe next season.
