Anger rumbles in southern London. This Tuesday, hundreds of Crystal Palace supporters walked on their own stadium, Selhurst Park, to protest against a decision they deem deeply unfair. The reason? Their club, qualified in the field for the prestigious Europa League, has just been officially demoted in the Europa League Conference. A downgrading experienced as a betrayal, a stab for a club and fans who dreamed of a return to the first European level.
OL rescue, Palace nightmare
The answer to this anger is hundreds of kilometers away, in Lyon. OL's survival in Ligue 1 and its European qualification are indeed the direct cause of the unhappiness of Crystal Palace. UEFA's regulations are relentless: two clubs controlled mainly by the same owner cannot compete in the same competition. However, Olympique Lyonnais and Crystal Palace both belong to the American John Textor. Maintaining OL ensuring his ticket to him for the C3 is Palace who pays the broken pots.
“It's an injustice”,
said a supporter representative during the demonstration. “We qualified for that. You penalize a whole club and its supporters for administrative errors. The feeling is unanimous: the club is sanctioned for a situation which completely exceeds it. To top it off, it's another English club, Nottingham Forest, which should recover Palace in the Europa League.
Multi -ownership, a system with absurd consequences
This incredible situation is the direct consequence of the multi -ownership model that develops in football. For John Textor, it is a headache: the sporting success of one of his clubs drips directly to the other. The businessman has an agreement to sell his shares in the English club, but the transaction has not yet been validated, and the timing is fatal.
The relief of Lyon supporters after a complicated season therefore has a very bitter taste on the London side. The case highlights the limits of a system where decisions taken in offices can sweep the results acquired on the ground with a hand. Palace fans do not intend to stop there, but for the moment, OL will benefit from the projectors of the Europa League, leaving its “brother club” in the shadows.
