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Doubts about Palace Europe place likely to be resolved

Crystal Palace’s Europa League place could hinge on whether Uefa decides to allow the French club Lyon to take part in the competition next season.

Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) disqualified Lyon — owned by the Palace shareholder John Textor — from European competitions in December but allowed them to continue after the club met certain demands. Manchester United eliminated them from the Europa League at the quarter-final stage.

However, Lyon are being “carefully monitored” by the CFCB and if they are deemed to be in breach of a settlement agreement they could be disqualified from next season’s Europa League.

That should leave Palace, who qualified for the Europa League after winning the FA Cup, in the clear in relation to Uefa’s multiclub ownership rules, which obliged sister clubs to set up separate ownership structures before March 1 if they hoped to play in the same competition next season.

Rival clubs such as Nottingham Forest and Palace rivals Brighton & Hove Albion, who did take such steps to separate their ownership structures from those of other clubs in European competitions, could stand to benefit if Palace are excluded from the Europa League.

Forest — whose owner, Evangelos Marinakis, diluted his control of the club because he also owns the Greek team Olympiacos — could take the Europa League place, with Brighton, who finished a place below Forest in the Premier League, getting their Conference League spot.

Palace chiefs met the CFCB in Nyon, Switzerland, on Tuesday to present their case that, whatever happens to Lyon, they are not in breach of the rules as the clubs are not part of the same ownership group and do not share any staff, facilities or information.

Textor, an American businessman, owns 43 per cent of Palace’s shares but the club argue that he has no say over day-to-day operations. Textor, 59, has only 25 per cent of the voting rights at Palace, alongside Steve Parish, the chairman, and two other partners, Josh Harris and David Blitzer, and indeed has previously spoken about his frustration at the lack of influence he has at Selhurst Park. He has also been trying to sell his shares in Palace for months.

Multi-club ownership poses some dilemmas for Uefa, but the links here are relatively tenuous.

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