Palace demoted, Liverpool to honour Jota

CRYSTAL Palace have been demoted from the Europa League to the Conference League by UEFA for a breach of multi-club ownership rules, European football’s governing body confirmed yesterday.

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US businessman John Textor owns a stake in the Eagles and is the majority owner of French club Lyon, who have also qualified for the Europa League.

Under UEFA multi-club ownership rules, Lyon have been allowed to keep their place in the second-tier competition of European football as they finished higher in Ligue 1 (6th) than Palace (12th) in the Premier League last season.

Palace qualified for European competition for the first time by winning the FA Cup in May — the club’s first ever major trophy.

Textor has since agreed to sell his 43 percent stake in the London club to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson.

However, that deal is yet to be completed and was struck well after UEFA’s deadline of March 1 for multi-club conflicts to be resolved.