Palace Hit Out at Uefa Over Europe Demotion

Club take aim at 'poorly conceived regulations' and their treatment at Cas

- Ed Aarons

Crystal Palace have called on Uefa to scrap its rules on multi-club ownership (MCO) and questioned whether they received a fair hearing at the court of arbitration of sport after their appeal against demotion from the Europa League was rejected.

Cas confirmed on Monday it had upheld Uefa's decision to demote the FA Cup winners to the Conference League after it decided John Textor held shares and had a decisive influence in Palace and Lyon, who also qualified for the Europa League. Textor has since sold his 44.9% stake in the club to another US businessman, Woody Johnson.

Palace, who are expected to miss out on up to £20m in extra revenue as a result, confirmed in a strongly worded statement they would take their place in the Conference League as they continue to take legal advice on whether to make a claim against Uefa for compensation.

Palace described the decision to sanction them as evidence that "sporting merit is rendered meaningless" and claimed that "certain clubs, organisations and individuals have a unique privilege and power".