Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish appeared to take aim at Nottingham Forest, Evangelos Marinakis and UEFA after his side won the Conference League on Wednesday night. Jean-Philippe Mateta netted the winner as Oliver Glasner bowed out with his third trophy of the last year, beating Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig.
Background to the Dispute
Parish led a delegation of seven into the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the start of the season after his side were thrown out of the Europa League, which they had qualified for through winning the FA Cup. Palace were effectively relegated to the Europa Conference League after UEFA ruled they had breached their rules on multi-club ownership.
A UEFA panel found that US businessman John Textor, whose company held a 43 per cent stake in the club, was in a position of influence at Selhurst Park. Textor's group also owned French side Lyon, who qualified for the same competition and took priority because they finished higher in their domestic league than FA Cup winners Palace. Textor subsequently sold his stake, but the decision was upheld, and Palace were replaced in the Europa League by Forest, who pushed for Palace to be expelled.
Whilst Palace celebrated on Wednesday night, Forest were knocked out in the semi-finals of the Europa League at the hands of eventual winners Aston Villa.
Parish's Reaction
'To be in Europe, travelling round Europe (is one thing) but to come and win it is incredible and it hasn't really sunk in,' Parish said on TNT Sports after the game. 'It's an incredible achievement. The players, the staff, all of the ups and downs we've had this season, it's brilliant to get here and to get in to the Europa League where we deserve to be. It just shows that sometimes the good guys win in the end, I think.'
'When I bought the club I wasn't sure we'd ever play in Europe, let alone win a trophy. It's a dream come true. We have got a taste for it now, we want to keep it going. We have gone up a level and we have got to try and stay there. We will have a week to celebrate and then work hard in the summer.'
Impact on European Places
Palace will now compete in next season's Europa League by virtue of winning the Conference League, taking the total number of English clubs in Europe next season to nine. Forest enlisted a legal team to represent them at Palace's appeal against the decision, which took place in Switzerland in August.
It is understood that a key part of Palace's argument was their belief that Forest were given extra time beyond UEFA's March 1 deadline to address their own multi-club ownership issues. At one stage, when it appeared that both Forest and Greek side Olympiakos, who are also owned by Marinakis, could qualify for the Champions League, Marinakis effectively placed Forest into a blind trust in an attempt to navigate the rules, but documents lodged at Companies House showed that the move was made on April 29.
As Daily Mail Sport reported, Palace, who were held to the March 1 deadline, demanded full disclosure of what they believed were bombshell documents and texts between UEFA and Forest which they believed could 'prove' double standards had been at play. Given Forest's view that they met deadlines in good time, Eagles officials believed there would be no issue in handing the documents over.
As things transpired, Forest failed to qualify for the Champions League and Marinakis was promptly reinstated as a 'person with significant control' of NF Football Investments Ltd, the vehicle that owns Forest, on June 6. Palace's appeal ultimately fell short, and they were instead forced to contest the Conference League, Europe's third-tier competition, which has now been won by three English sides since its inception five years ago: West Ham (2023), Chelsea (2025), and Palace (2026).
But they are now celebrating, and will take their place in the Europa League next season. Forest will be without European football after finishing 16th in the Premier League.
