Nottingham Forest write to Uefa with concerns about Crystal Palace’s Europa League participation next season, according to reports.
Nottingham Forest have written to UEFA, expressing concerns over Crystal Palace’s eligibility to compete in the Europa League due to multi-club ownership issues involving Palace co-owner John Textor, who also holds a majority stake in Lyon, another Europa League qualifier.
This issue stems from UEFA’s rules on multi-club ownership. Forest, currently in the Europa Conference League, could potentially move up to the Europa League if Palace were excluded, especially since Palace’s Europa League spot came from their FA Cup win.
Reports from Matt Lawton (The Times) and Mike Keegan (Daily Mail) confirm Forest’s letter to UEFA, though neither Forest nor UEFA have commented officially.
UEFA’s independent Club Financial Control Body will decide by the end of June, but the outcome could lead to appeals, potentially escalating to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, as both clubs are likely to contest an unfavourable ruling.
This could create a prolonged dispute throughout the summer.
Nottingham Forest have written to UEFA to voice their concerns about Crystal Palace’s scheduled involvement in the Europa League next season.
Saying that Palace could be in breach of the multi-club ownership rules. pic.twitter.com/QSaRA1V3Vo
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 9, 2025
Exclusive: Nottingham Forest write to Uefa over Crystal Palace ownershiphttps://t.co/YPBQgwij9q
— Matt Lawton (@Lawton_Times) June 9, 2025
Kaveh said: “Been an exclusive story by Matt Lawton in The Times. And Matt says that Nottingham Forest have written to UEFA to express their concerns, about Crystal Palace playing in the Europa League at the same time as Lyon.
“Now you may be looking at me and thinking, what’s this got to do with Nottingham Forest? Well, of course, Nottingham Forest finished 7th in the Premier League. At the moment, they’re in the Europa Conference League.
“Now I think if Manchester City had won the FA Cup and not Crystal Palace, Forest would have gone into the Europa and not Palace. But Palace won the FA Cup, so Palace have taken that place. And who knows? I haven’t seen the letter. Nottingham Forest are not commenting. UEFA are not commenting.
“But Matt Lawton, is reporting that this letter has gone in. And, also, Mike Keegan of the Daily Mail, who’s made a lot of the running on this story, he started, writing about it early last week. He is also reporting, that he believes a letter has gone in from Forest to UEFA.
“Now this could get very, very messy because I think whatever happens, whatever the decision is, and we’re gonna get it by the end of this month from, UEFA’s club financial control body, which is actually an independent and impartial body separate from, UEFA.
“And it exists to oversee the application of UEFA’s rules, financial and licensing rules. But whatever they decide, I think it’s gonna get messy. Cool. Because already. If they decide in Crystal Palace’s favor and say, no, Crystal Palace. Okay. You’ve broken the rules, but, okay, we understand. We’ll let you play in the Europa League.
“Then are we gonna get a situation where clubs like Nottingham Forest are going to appeal, maybe go all the way to the court of arbitration? For sport, this could drag out all across the summer.
“Or the other way, if the, financial control body rules against Crystal Palace, Palace are not gonna take that lying down. Palace are going to say, we earned this by right. We are not part of a multi club ownership model. If we’ve broken any rules, it wasn’t the fault of our fans or our players. It was just a administrative error.
“John Textor doesn’t control Palace. He’s trying to sell his, shares, so I think they would pursue it through the court.”
Here’s how fans reacted after hearing Nottingham Forest have reportedly decided to write to Uefa with concerns about Crystal Palace’s Europa League participation…
@JGNFFC_: god i love my club
@CapitalR: We should be staying out of this one. I’m happy with UEFA Conference League football as it stands. The club should just keep their distance from all this 🙈
@JamieBriody: Ffs can’t we just stay out of this one.
@fance10: Normally, I wouldn’t want us to pursue this. But given how harshly we were punished for selling Johnson weeks after an arbitrary deadline and then being told ‘rules are rules’, how can authorities push for punishment for breaching one dealine, but not another?
@SniffsWhite: No one gave a shit when we were punished for missing the deadline to sell Brennan, we were laughed at in fact… Why should we care Palace are punished for missing this deadline? Forest rightly trying to take advantage of the situation, would be huge for us. Fuck ‘em #NFFC
@lukefuller__: Forest literally cry about everything. Owner is one red bull away from a heart attack as well. Fucked the FA Cup semi- final & the UCL spot. Cry me a river buddy.
@Harvey_XCX: Just embarrassing, we bottled it and now banking off someone else’s incompetence. Take the L and move on
@GAOcpfc: How could you do this to me forest. After all we’ve been through 💔
@Forest_No_22: IF Forest have written to UEFA, I don’t blame them. The total Europa prize pot is double the Conference. Forest followed the rules and now expect UEFA to ensure ALL clubs do the same. Football aside – If it was your own business you’d do the same! #NFFC
@BrummieTricky: Never ever been more proud of a owner. He’s next level and I’m here for it #nffc
@Mark_CPFC: Poor little Forest. If you wanted europa so badly maybe you should have tried harder in the league and not bottled it?
@RyanTCWallis: So, so, so on brand for that club. If you wanted to qualify for the Europa League you probably shouldn’t have blown a 15-20 point lead.
@Benjijacobson: So embarrassing from NFFC. Should every owner of a club who is in the round of 16 of the FA cup put their shares in a blind trust? Embarrassing, desperate, and sad club. Should be relegated just for writing the letter
@RedDogNF: No one has seen this letter, so we don’t know it’s real! sky turning everyone against us because we made Neville look like a bell end #nffc
@aroundgroundsss: Jesus Christ absolute worms. Premier league football is finished ain’t it haha literally no coming back. Money money money all they are arsed about.
@RyanTCWallis: “This could get very, very messy. On one hand you have Palace who will not lie down because they qualified through winning the FA Cup, on the other hand you could have Forest complaining because Palace… failed to predict the future on March 1st” #CPFC #NFFC
@C304TAG: First we bottled the FA Cup. Then we bottled UCL. Then we bottled Europa and are stuck in the worthless Conference. Now we look tin pot, and should let a proper club like Palace have their rightful place. Shame on us #nffc
@_CM_67_: That’s unbelievably shameless, Palace are in a situation that everyone agrees is ridiculous and Forest are trying to push to benefit from it because their bottles crashed towards the end of the season. Absolute losers 😂
@febbington: I couldn’t care less about Palace’s excuses. No one cared about Forest when we decided to wait an extra few weeks for record breaking money for Brennan Johnson. We got docked points and in any other season could well have ended up being relegated. Fuck your classy touch nonsense.
@jwkav10: Yeah I get it, rules are rules. But just let the football win. As a Forest fan, we didn’t do enough to be in the Europa League, that’s on us. Palace got there through sporting merit. Leave it be & let both clubs enjoy the European Football they both deserved. #NFFC #CPFC
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