UEFA no longer jokes with the clubs that belong to the same group. According to new multi -ownership rules, two clubs that share the same shareholder up to 30 % cannot compete in the same European Cup. The City Group, the holding company created by the United Arab Emirates during the acquisition of Manchester City, sold 18 % of the Girona shares last year (in order to descend below 30 %) to allow the Catalan club to evolve in the Champions League.
Crystal Palace, for its part, failed to respect the rules of the European body to enter the Europa League thanks to its coronation in FA Cup against the Pep Guardiola team. The fault of a John Textor who has therefore not only put OL in jeopardy. Palace is indeed 45% owned by Eagle, the holding company which has the Rhone club. The Gones, kept in Ligue 1, had priority in the Europa League because they ended up a better place in the ranking of their championship (6th in L1 against 12th in the Premier League).
The American businessman has desperately sought to resell his shares for long months. Textor has reached an agreement with the owner of the New York Jets (Woody Johnson) and the Premier League validated the sale of the shares, but the financial transaction (up to 219 million pounds) is still in progress … Too late for Crystal Palace. And it is particularly severe on the part of UEFA because Textor has never had any decision -makers in the club in southern London…
Nottingham Forest in the Europa League
It is Nottingham Forest who rose in the Europa League, to join an extremely raised set with, in addition to Lille and Lyon (pending Nice, in the running in the Champions League qualifying), Roma, Porto, Feyenoord, Real Betis, Aston Villa or even Fenerbahçe! Crystal Palace inherits the Place de Forest in Dams of Conference League, a much less prestigious competition. Thanks to its 7th place in Ligue 1, the RC Strasbourg will try to qualify for the phase of the “C4” League.
Two other clubs were excluded from their European Cup, in this case the Europa Conference League. Drogheda United, an Irish club who shares the same owner as the Danes of Silkeborg, were withdrawn from the first qualification round. In Slovakia, the DAC 1904, training of the city of Dunajska Streda, was excluded because of its condominium link with the Hungarian club of Györi Eto. Another Slovak club, Kosice, which ended up behind DAC, was chosen in time to participate in the 2nd Tour des Qualifs.
