Steve Parish says Crystal Palace will appeal against Europa League exclusion

“We don’t think this is the right decision by any means," said Parish.

Steve Parish said Crystal Palace will take their Europa League exclusion to CAS (Yui Mok/PA)

Crystal Palace will mount a legal challenge to UEFA’s decision to exclude them from next season’s Europa League, with chairman Steve Parish announcing the club will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The FA Cup winners have been demoted to the Conference League owing to what Europe’s governing body says is a conflict of interest regarding former director and co-owner John Textor, who also owns part of Ligue 1 side Lyon.

The American stepped away from Palace at the start of July, but the ownership issue relates to the end of last season when the club secured a first European appearance by beating Manchester City at Wembley.

Crystal Palace fans have protested against UEFA’s ruling (Yui Mok/PA).

UEFA’s ruling would mean Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League, taking Palace’s place in the Europa League.

“We are still fighting,” Parish told the The Rest is Football podcast. “There’s an appeal process, so we go to CAS which is the court for arbitration and, you know, we’re very hopeful. We think we’ve got great legal arguments.

“We don’t think this is the right decision by any means. We know unequivocally that John didn’t have decisive influence over the club.

“We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it’s a fact.”