Crystal Palace is in hassle, however the English Premier League membership could possibly be saved by a couple of heroes from totally different locations.
After defeating Manchester Metropolis on Might 17 to win the FA Cup, Crystal Palace earned its first-ever main trophy, and with that, an computerized bid into the 2025-26 UEFA Europa League event.
Nonetheless, the membership is probably not allowed to compete within the Europa League as a result of one in every of its minority stakeholders, John Textor, additionally owns a majority stake within the Ligue 1 crew Lyon. UEFA’s guidelines forestall two groups with the identical possession to play in the identical competitors until shares in a single membership are positioned right into a blind belief.
Textor failed to finish that a part of the clause by the March 1 deadline. However, he is keen to make up for it by placing his group’s stake in Crystal Palace available on the market.
There’s a few teams that would vie for place to acquire Textor’s share. The main candidate is, reportedly, New York Jets’ co-owner Woody Johnson, who shares management of the NFL franchise together with his brother, Christopher. Johnson additionally has ties to England as he was the USA’ ambassador to the UK from 2017 to 2021.
New York Jets proprietor Woody Johnson could possibly be eyeing a stake in English soccer crew Crystal Palace. (Picture by Brooke Sutton/Getty Pictures)
One other potential candidate is, reportedly, a gaggle compiled of sports activities brokers and executives, however notably, the face of that group is Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler. Butler has shared his love for soccer, publicly, for a few years now and hosted gamers comparable to Neymar and Vinícius Júnior at Miami Warmth video games up to now.
NBA famous person Jimmy Butler is an enormous soccer fan, and is a part of a gaggle that would additionally spend money on Crystal Palace. (Picture by Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG by way of Getty Pictures)
No matter who finally ends up with Textor’s share of Crystal Palace, if the transaction is profitable, it could resolve the multi-club possession problem that threatens the crew’s spot in subsequent season’s Europa League, and would permit them to compete for one more main trophy.
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