Crystal Palace claims sporting merit ‘pointless’ after the relegation of the Europa League

Premier League side Crystal Palace said on Tuesday that Sporting Merit «was made meaningless» by the decision of UEFA to relegate the Europa League.

The FA Cup winner is forced to play in this season’s conference, after the administrative body of the European football UEFA had ruled in July that the American businessman John Textor had control or influence in both Palace and the French club Lyon.

Palace tried to destroy the punishment, but on Monday the Lausanne Hof for Arbitration for Sport announced that the Premier League club had lost his profession.

Nottingham Forest will take the place of Palace in the Europa League.

Palace chairman Steve Parish was already pronounced in his criticism after the first relegation and, with his fate, the South London club again shot the decision.

«At a time when we find our victory in the Shield Community in Wembley, the decision of UEFA and followed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, it appears that sporting merit becomes useless,» Palace said in a statement.

“When we won the FA Cup against Manchester City at that time in May, our manager and players earned the right to play Europa League football.

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“We have denied that opportunity. It seems that certain clubs, organizations and individuals have a unique privilege and power.

«This growing and unhealthy influence has crushed the hope and dreams of supporters of Crystal Palace and does not predict well for ambitious teams throughout Europe that compete to make progress when rules and sanctions are applied unevenly in the most flagrant way.»

UEFA rules state that when one or more clubs are found that they have owned, they cannot play in the same competition, and Lyon held the Europa League place on the basis of the higher competition position.

Palace missed a UEFA-Deadline of 1 March for teams in multi-club groups to change their ownership structure.

Textor has since sold its shares to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, completed a takeover at the end of July.

«Multi-club structures hide behind the Charade of a ‘blind trust’, while clubs such as ours, who have no connection with another club, prevent them from playing in the same competition,» added the palace statement.

“To worsen injustice, clubs that seem to have enormous informal arrangements can also participate and even play against each other.

Palace added that the process «was designed to seriously limit and in our case to make it almost impossible to receive an honest hearing».

Palace defeated Premier League champions Liverpool in the Community Shield at the weekend and won a penalty shootout after the game ended in 90 minutes 2-2.