A group of Liberal Democrat MPs have asked the culture secretary Lisa Nandy to intervene over Uefa’s “disgraceful” decision to demote Crystal Palace from the Europa League for breaching its multi-club ownership rules.
The seven politicians from London – including party leader Sir Ed Davey – wrote to express “deep concern” over what they called “a highly unusual and severe punishment on the club that raises serious questions about fairness and transparency in the governance of English football”.
The Eagles, who qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup – their first major trophy – in May, were demoted to the lower tier Conference League on Friday.
The rules of European football’s governing body state that clubs owned, to a certain threshold of influence, by the same person or entity cannot compete in the same European competition.
American businessman John Textor owns a stake in Palace and is the majority owner of French club Lyon, who have also qualified for the Europa League.
Uefa’s rules set a deadline of 1 March 2025 to show proof of multi-club ownership restructuring – a deadline which Palace missed.
In a letter seen by BBC Sport, the group of Lib Dems described the saga as “heart-breaking for fans”.
“Other clubs seem to go through much more protracted disputes with less severe outcomes,” they said.
“Many believe that this process has been opaque and disproportionately punitive [and] risks undermining not only the club’s achievement but also public confidence in the fairness of football governance.”
