UEFA slammed on ‘absolute joke’ Crystal Palace bind after Marinakis, Ratcliffe moves
Crystal Palace’s position in the Europa League is in jeopardy as UEFA’s rules on multi-club ownership have been called out for their hypocrisy.
The Eagles secured their place in Europe’s secondary cup competition next season with a 1-0 win over Man City in the FA Cup final.
But due to John Textor’s holding company, Eagle Football, owning a 43 per cent stake in Palace and 88 per cent of French side Lyon, the club now faces talks with UEFA about participation in the Europa League next season [The Athletic].
UEFA’s rules state that individuals involved in multiple clubs cannot have those teams compete in the same competition.
However, that did not stop Man United and Nice both competing in the Europa League this season, despite Jim Ratcliffe’s company INEOS being in a near-identical position to Textor and Palace.
Stan Collymore calls Crystal Palace plight ‘absolute joke’
Former Eagle Stan Collymore took to X to call out the hypocrisy of UEFA’s differing treatment of United and Palace, saying: “Absolute joke that a guy who obviously doesn’t have the final decision making capability at Palace has to go through a sale when some clubs have one man who obviously has the final say in multiple clubs but can write a “I don’t own this one” note on a post it and everything is fine.”
The former England international’s comment about “I don’t own this one”, looks to be in reference to Ratcliffe transferring the ownership of Swiss club Lausanne-Sport into a “blind trust” to remain compliant with UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules [AssociatedPress].
Ratcliffe also took a step back from the running of Nice in France in order for the French club to be able to compete in the same competition as United, something UEFA took no issue with after an investigation [UEFA].
At the same time, proceedings were opened into the ownership of Girona and Man City, who are both owned by City Football Group, and once again, the governing body of European football had no problems with both teams competing in the Champions League.
Red Bull’s clubs Leipzig and Salzburg have also competed in the same competitions in Europe before, even playing against each other in the Europa League group stage in 2018.
But much like Ratcliffe and INEOS, the energy drinks company simply “stepped back from Salzburg in various ways”, to allow both clubs to compete in Europe concurrently [The Athletic].
Nottingham Forest failed to qualify for the Champions League this season after spending much of the season in the top five.
However, when it was looking like the Tricky Trees would qualify and enter the same competition as Olympiacos, owner of both clubs, Evangelos Marinakis took a page out of United’s books and simply relinquished control of the Premier League side [ESPN].
Marinakis then made headlines by storming onto the pitch to confront Nuno Espirito Santo on May 11, the Greek owner supposedly stepped back from the club on April 30.
UEFA relaxed their rules on multi-club ownership last year, allowing clubs owned by the same group or person to compete in Europe, but in different competitions [The Athletic].
This would have potentially allowed Palace to simply slide down to the Conference League, but Blitzer’s Global Football Holdings, another stakeholder in the South London club, owns a share of Danish club Brondby, who have also qualified for the competition.
| Crystal Palace shareholders | Percentage of shares owned |
| John Textor | 45% |
| Josh Harris | 18% |
| David Blitzer | 18% |
| Steve Parish | 10% |
| Robert Franco and other investors | 9% |
Man United, RB Leipzig, Nottingham Forest show UEFA’s rules outdated
Football Insider Verdict
Collymore’s point about the hypocrisy of UEFA’s rules is absolutely spot on.
The governing body has set a precedent of allowing owners to simply cross their name out on a piece of paper, claiming they have no influence in the club, to then allow their teams to compete in the same competition.
Marinakis, for instance, is clearly still the main man in the running of Forest, whether or not his name now appears on the paperwork right now.
Palace are not in Europe thanks to their links to Lyon, the only player in their squad to have appeared for the French side was Jean-Philippe Mateta, but his last appearance for them happened four years before signing for the Eagles.
Allowing United, City and other clubs to flaunt the rules shows their redundancy. If UEFA don’t want multi-club ownership taking place in their competitions, that’s fine, ban it outright. But don’t punish one club and then let another make it to the final of the Europa League.