LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Crystal Palace have been demoted from the Europa League to the Conference League by UEFA for a breach of multi-club ownership rules, European football’s governing body confirmed on Friday.

US businessman John Textor owns a stake in the Eagles and is the majority owner of French club Lyon, who have also qualified for the Europa League.

Under UEFA multi-club ownership rules, Lyon have been allowed to keep their place in the second-tier competition of European football as they finished higher in Ligue 1 (6th) than Palace (12th) in the Premier League last season.

Palace qualified for European competition for the first time by winning the FA Cup in May – the club’s first ever major trophy.

Textor has since agreed to sell his 43 per cent stake in the London club to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson.

However, that deal is yet to be completed and was struck well after UEFA’s deadline of March 1 for multi-club conflicts to be resolved.

A decision on Palace’s fate had been delayed by a separate case that initially saw Lyon relegated to the second tier of French football due to financial problems.

The seven-time French champions won an appeal against that decision on Wednesday after Textor stood aside from the day-to-day running of the club.

Palace are expected to appeal the verdict to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Parish told Sky Sports: “We are obviously devastated, most importantly for the supporters. Supporters of all clubs should be devastated for it.

“It is a bad day for football,” Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish declared.

“Most right-minded football fans will see what a terrible injustice this is for the football club and one that I hope someone can remedy because I do believe that nobody in football wants to see this – I don’t think UEFA want to see it,” he told Sky Sports.

Nottingham Forest, who had qualified for the Conference League by finishing seventh in the Premier League last season, will replace Palace in the Europa League, a UEFA source told AFP.