Palace could lose European place over Textor shares

Uefa has rejected offers from the Crystal Palace shareholders John Textor and David Blitzer to put their shares in a blind trust to ensure the club can compete in Europe next season.

- Matt Hughes

Palace's participation in the Europa League has been cast into doubt as the club's largest shareholder, Textor, is also the majority owner of Lyon, who have also qualified for the second-tier competition. And to compound matters, Blitzer's Danish club Brøndby have qualified for the Conference League, so the prospect of the FA Cup winners dropping into that competition is also not an option due to the European governing body's multi-club ownership rules.

Palace executives, including Textor and the chairman, Steve Parish, met Uefa officials in Nyon on Tuesday to try to broker a solution without reaching agreement. The Guardian has learned that the so-called blind trust option in which Textor's Palace shares would be placed in the hands of trustees next season was rejected by Uefa, as the club missed the deadline for registering the trust.