Forest register complaint to UEFA against Crystal Palace alleging breach of multi-club ownership rules of the body.
Forest register complaint to Uefa to raise concerns about Crystal Palace’s planned partaking in the Europa League next season.
If Palace is not allowed to compete in Europe next season, Forest will benefit since they will be able to replace the London team in the Europa League. Given that Forest feels they have a stake in the competition, there is potential for a legal dispute. In order to adhere to Uefa regulations in the event that Forest qualified for the Champions League, Evangelos Marinakis, the owner of Forest and the owner of Olympiakos, the Greek champions, put his shares into a blind trust.
Because Palace shareholder John Textor also holds stock in Ligue 1 team Lyon, who have provisionally qualified for the Europa League, Forest believes there is a conflict of interest. Forest qualified for the Conference League after placing seventh in the most recent Premier League season, whereas Palace qualified for Europe after winning the FA Cup.
It is believed that Textor is looking for a way to comply with Uefa requirements. Palace’s Textor and chairman Steve Parish met at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon last week to argue their club’s case for playing in Europe without coming to a consensus. According to The Guardian, European football’s regulatory body rejected the blind trust option, which would have put Textor’s Palace shares in the hands of trustees for the upcoming season, because the club had missed the deadline.
Since Uefa regulations stipulate that the team with the greatest domestic championship ranking will be granted admittance into the competition, Palace’s European standing is in jeopardy rather than Lyon’s. Lyon has an advantage over Palace, who finished 12th in the Premier League, thanks to their sixth-place Ligue 1 result.