Crystal Palace to appeal to CAS over Europa League ban as Nottingham Forest watch on

Crystal Palace is set to legally contest UEFA's decision to bar them from the upcoming season's Europa League, with chairman Steve Parish declaring that the club will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The FA Cup victors have been relegated to the Conference League due to what the European governing body claims is a conflict of interest involving former director and co-owner John Textor, who also has a stake in Ligue 1 team Lyon.

The American parted ways with Palace at the beginning of July, but the ownership dispute pertains to the end of the previous season when the club clinched their first European appearance by defeating Manchester City at Wembley.

UEFA's verdict would result in Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League, replacing Palace in the Europa League.

"We are still fighting," Parish stated on The Rest is Football podcast. "There's an appeal process, so we go to CAS which is the court for arbitration and, you know, we're very hopeful. We think we've got great legal arguments.

"We don't think this is the right decision by any means. We know unequivocally that John didn't have decisive influence over the club.

"We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it's a fact."

According to UEFA regulations, no owner or co-owner can hold a controlling interest in more than one club participating in the same European competition during the same season.

Palace's stance has consistently been that Textor, who had previously voiced his dissatisfaction publicly regarding his limited influence at Selhurst Park, did not possess sufficient control for the club to breach the regulations.

The cut-off date for shareholders to sell their stake in a club, or otherwise modify their ownership arrangements to meet regulatory requirements, was March 1.

Forest, who benefit from this decision, faced a comparable predicament but their proprietor Evangelos Marinakis – who also controls Greek outfit Olympiacos – transferred his shares into a blind trust before the deadline, expecting the club to secure European qualification.

"We feel that there are a lot of very genuine mitigating circumstances and more than enough wriggle room to put us in the competition," said Parish.

"It does look bad. This is the dream right? This is what keeps football alive. This is why everybody goes, because they think one day they might win a cup and they might qualify for Europe.

"These things can be defining moments for a club and completely change the course of history forever.

"Hopefully when we go to CAS we get the right answer.

"We get the written version of (the ruling) with the detail then apparently the appeal is 10 days".