FootBiz newsletter #87: Palace vs UEFA, Club World Cup latest and two debutants secure 2026 places

And so it was that after all the questions and the controversy, the Club World Cup is finally here.

It will certainly be interesting to see how it turns out. Will the American public care? Probably not a ton. Will fans back home care? That seems to depend on which club you’re talking about.

This week has been an international break too, so there’s some World Cup news — including a couple of first-time qualifiers — as well as the ongoing drama of Crystal Palace’s battle with UEFA (and Nottingham Forest) which kind of ties in to our season-long coverage of the wild world of John Textor.

Oh yeah, and there’s a ton of M&A Murmurs this week as well as some coaching moves and transfers so let’s kick it off.

Table of Contents

• Palace’s Europa bid

• Oman that was a close one

• Brescia go bust, license not renewed

• Club World Cup latest

• M&A Murmurs

• World Cup debutants confirmed

• Pep talk

• AWFC make Emirates their home 

• Unrest sparks World Cup questions

• Tottenham clean house

Palace’s Europa bid

If you thought Crystal Palace’s FA Cup win was a refreshing, palate-cleanser of a moment amid the financial stratification of English football, then the last week and their bid to remain in the Europa League has been something of a depressing sequel.

But the Eagles appear to have attracted near-universal sympathy, if not outright support, from everyone north of Brighton (and with the exception of a small, Nottingham-shaped hole) as they try to convince UEFA of their right to play in the lucrative second-tier competition.

Palace’s co-owners were in the Swiss town of Nyon last week to meet UEFA officials at their headquarters, with the primary aim of explaining that the club’s largest shareholder John Textor (~43%) had no decisive influence, as per Article 5 of the rules laid out by European football’s governing body.

In practice, this is something that was already known. Textor has long complained about his inability to influence anything at Palace, telling The Athletic two years ago that chairman Steve Parish and co-owners Joshua Harris and David Blitzer (who, with Textor, are the four General Partners) consistently voted 3-1 against him.

“There’s not really an opportunity to get more involved in the stuff that’s really fun for me — the academy, squad construction, the commercial elements,” he told Matt Slater.

“The club is run by Steve and a terrific sporting director Dougie (Freedman) and they’re not really listening to me on players.”

In the same interview, Textor notes he and Parish have “a spiritual divide on the merits of multi-club collaboration versus single-club governance” and that while he liked Palace, he didn’t care as much about the club because of his lack of input:

“I have a different emotion when I’m responsible for the outcome of something — I have a stronger connection. So I’m proud of my role, within a small team of good friends, for the construction of the roster in Brazil. Building the roster in Belgium started in June of last year, so that was fun.

“Checking in on Palace at the weekend is different. I’m a fan but I’m not remotely responsible for the outcome.”

Per the BBC, Palace told UEFA that there has been “no employee, backroom staff or coach sharing with Lyon, no dialogue, no collaborative strategy, no combined partnerships, sponsorships or commercial deals and no collective scouting, analysis or software collaborations.”

The question is whether Palace have the documentation to prove the practical reality of Textor having little influence, given that on paper he has 25% of the votes and nearly half of the equity. Media interviews, quite rightly, don’t constitute evidence in cases like this. Cold, hard financial and governance documents do.

What became clear in the meeting with UEFA is that the blind trust mechanism, a pathway used by a raft of clubs in recent seasons, is not available to Palace. 

And so the focus is on Article 5, and the concept of decisive influence, which is a specific concept laid out in EU Competition law (the environment in and from which the UEFA regulations have evolved).

There notionally should be movement on the issue within the next week, with the list of competing teams needing to be finalised by June 17 when the first qualifying ties are drawn. It was thought that UEFA’s decision would be known by then, but well-placed leaks are saying that it will be by the end of the month instead.

Some believe that UEFA allowing more time suggests Palace have a better chance, but after bending over backwards to facilitate several actual multi-club groups in their attempts to shoehorn multiple teams into the same competitions, it would be the level of farce that only UEFA can achieve to eject a team in the name of sporting integrity that doesn’t even operate as a multi-club group.

As Textor made clear, he’s not remotely responsible for the outcome at Palace when things go well. Should they be kicked out of the Europa League, he will be almost entirely responsible for that particular outcome.

In another twist, The Times reported on Monday that Nottingham Forest have written to UEFA expressing concerns about Palace participating in the Europa League when they could be in breach of multi-club ownership rules.

Forest would be promoted from the Conference League to the Europa League if Palace are deemed non-compliant with UEFA Article 5, a decision which will also hinge on whether Lyon are even permitted to take part in the competition next season.

UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) temporarily disqualified Lyon from European competitions in December, around the same time they were provisionally relegated by French regulators, but allowed them to continue after the club met certain demands. The French club are still being "carefully monitored" by the CFCB however, and if they are deemed to be in breach of a settlement agreement they could be disqualified from the Europa League themselves.

Forest’s sudden active role in the process is particularly intriguing, as owner Evangelos Marinakis is known to have a close relationship with Textor through their mutual interests in Brazil. Textor, who also gets on well with Forest’s head of recruitment George Syrianos, owns Botafogo and Marinakis is in talks about buying a stake in Vasco da Gama, hiring Edu Gaspar from Arsenal to lead his multi-club operation. 

These close connections have already manifested themselves in this summer’s transfer market, with Textor’s Lyon yesterday agreeing a £6.7m fee with Forest to buy American goalkeeper Matt Turner. In addition, Forest are in talks with Lyon about the £20m sale of Brazilian midfield player Danilo, and plan to use the funds raised to make the remarkable triple signing of striker Igor Jesus, centre-back Jair Cunha and left-back Cuiabano from... Botafogo. It does not take Sherlock Holmes, or even the CFCB, to join the dots.

It is not known whether Textor was aware of Forest’s letter to UEFA before it was made public, though eyebrows have been raised in south London.  

It may be cynical, but the threat of Palace losing their European place if Textor isn’t bought out could be seen as giving the American useful leverage in achieving an acceptable sale price, in a situation where he has been shorn of considerable leverage by circumstances.

Oman that was a close one

FIFA and World Cup 2026 organisers avoided what could have been a huge headache when a (90+7th minute) penalty ensured Palestine were eliminated from World Cup qualifying last night.

Palestine hosted Oman in a game that would decide who progressed to the fourth round of Asian qualifying. The Palestinians held the lead via Udey Kharoub until the end of stoppage time.

Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that “effective immediately, individuals who engage in or promote criticism of the State of Israel will be denied entry visas to the United States.

“This policy will be enforced rigorously, and we urge all foreign nationals to be mindful of their statements and actions regarding Israel.”

Brescia go bust, license not renewed

Historic Italian club Brescia have been demoted to the amateur Serie D after debt-ridden owner Massimo Cellino decided against paying €3m to renew the club’s license with the footballing authorities.

Once the club of Andrea Pirlo, Pep Guardiola, Roberto Baggio and Mario Balotelli, Brescia narrowly survived relegation from Serie B on the final day of the season as Genoese giants Sampdoria suffered the drop.

However, a points deduction for breaking financial rules around player salaries then surprisingly relegated Brescia and offer Sampdoria a reprieve - though Sampdoria still have to beat Salernitana in a relegation playoff next weekend to survive and remain in the second tier.

Cellino, who is famous in England for his turbulent spell as Leeds United owner, was in talks with an American group over selling Brescia for a nominal fee if they agreed to take on nearly €10m in debt, but that debt which will now be settled by the bankruptcy courts.

As the deadline to apply for next season’s license drew closer, Cellino told associates that he needed €3m to secure the club’s future or he may not renew. After appearing to secure survival, Cellino was locked in discussions over offloading the club before the deadline but news of the points deduction ultimately sealed the club’s fate unless Brescia are successful in this week’s appeal. Their defence is that they were victims of fraud.

It appears, however, that the 114 year-old club will be dropping to the fourth tier unless the local government can seal a merger deal with local side Ospitaletto, which would at least allow them to continue in Serie C, albeit playing away from the club’s Rigamonti stadium for the next season at least.

More as we get it.

Club World Cup latest

We are just days away from the beginning of the new and expanded Club World Cup.

It will be a significant piece of Gianni Infantino’s legacy, as the FIFA president made the biggest ever move by world football’s governing body to cash in on the club game.

Infantino, FIFA and their partners need the tournament to be a success but working out what would qualify as a success really depends on who you speak to.

Simply establishing the competition as an accepted and respected part of the playing calendar is surely the first objective. If there is a feeling that players and clubs are not bought in, giving the tournament the feeling of a slew of post-season friendlies, then the product will not survive. Infantino’s hope is that by providing enough top-level teams and significant prize money that he can ensure high quality football.

Obviously the commercial aspect of the Club World Cup is secondary, and the first tournament should be viewed as something of a loss leader to help solidify the concept. We’ve covered a lot of the broadcasting and sponsorship issues that the tournament has run into, but if the month goes off without a hitch and FIFA loses a little money in putting on a well-received tournament, the likelihood is that they will have created a valuable commercial enterprise for the future - even if that isn’t reflected in the financial result.

One thing that will need to turn for FIFA to avoid some bad visuals is the disappointing ticket sales. While prices were recently slashed for a number of group stage games, the slow uptake threatens the embarrassment of empty seats that tournament organisers will be keen to avoid. A pragmatic solution, like donating free tickets to children or first responders, wouldn’t be a surprise.

Otherwise, here are a few news nuggets as the tournament gets ready to kick off:

Cristiano Ronaldo has confirmed he won’t be playing at the Club World Cup this summer.

It likely means the Portugal star will never play in the new tournament format, given he is already 40 years old.

Despite his age, Ronaldo still helped Portugal to a UEFA Nations League triumph on Sunday night. Post-match he suggested to the assembled media that he would, in fact, be re-signing with Al-Nassr, despite a cryptic Instagram post describing the “end of a chapter” after his last game for the club.

World Cup winner N’Golo Kante is set for a short-term loan from Al-Ittihad to Al-Hilal in order to play in the Club World Cup.

Both clubs are owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

Real Madrid are clearly very keen to have their new arrivals in place for the CWC, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alvaro Carreras and Dean Huijsen already either with the team in the USA or scheduled to join them, but Madrid are allowing the most exciting signing of them all to remain with River Plate for the tournament.

Franco Mastantuono, 17, surpassed Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi to become Argentina’s youngest-ever player last week and is considered one of the best young talents on Earth.

Madrid have been pursuing the River starlet for over a year, and appear to have beaten off Paris Saint-Germain to secure his signing. A left-footed right winger who is expected to eventually become more of a number 10, Mastantuono would stay in Argentina until August according to local information. There remains the possibility that he could go back to River on loan, but it won’t be long before he is playing at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Bayern (eventually) reached an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen that will allow Jonathan Tah to move clubs early.

Tah will now play for the Bundesliga champions at the CWC after Leverkusen had played hard-ball over a fee for joining Bayern two weeks early.

It had been expected for months that Tah would sign a pre-contract, which was eventually announced on May 29th.

Manchester City sealed one of the value signings of the summer in securing Rayan Cherki from Lyon just in time for the Club World Cup.

The France international cost just €36m after they were outbid by Liverpool for Florian Wirtz and then Nottingham Forest had quoted them closer to €60m for Morgan Gibbs-White.

Cherki is expected to debut stateside, as is fellow new arrival Rayan Ait-Nouri who joins for €40m and Tijani Reijnders, formerly of AC Milan, who makes a €55m move.

Jobe Bellingham is following in the footsteps of his brother and signing for Borussia Dortmund in time for the Club World Cup.

The Sunderland midfielder’s £70k per week contract suggests he will go straight into Dortmund’s starting line-up next season, though may have to wait for his chance in the US this month.

M&A Murmurs

Wrexham are clearly testing the market to see if they can find investors at a valuation that would make them the most valuable club in the Championship despite not having played in the second tier in 43 years.

Bloomberg reports that owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are floating a £350m valuation as they seek investors for the club that they have dragged from the non-league fifth tier and to the Championship since picking it up for just £2m in 2020.

The two actors have had their loans to the club fully repaid and have sold off pieces of the club in the last couple of seasons as they looked to cash out a little on their investment. The owners of Necaxa took a small stake in the Welsh club as part of Reynolds and McElhenney’s investment in the Liga MX side, and the Allyn family then took an estimated 15% stake at a valuation of $100m.

After three consecutive promotions, the Dragons are eyeing a lucrative promotion to the Premier League to complete their made-for-Hulu journey but will come up against sides with significantly larger playing budgets. Buoyed by impressive commercial revenues, however, Wrexham will have the ability to spend on talent and much of their success — be that survival in the Championship or something greater — will depend on the quality and value of their recruitment after simply outspending rivals in the third, fourth and fifth tiers of English football.

Reynolds and McElhenney have continued to broaden their own sporting investment portfolio, recently adding a stake in the Australia SailGP team to their piece of the Alpine F1 team and a range of football clubs in which they have interests.

The American pair are best known for their Wrexham purchase but also made the aforementioned deal with Necaxa to get ahead of Apollo’s $1.2bn investment in Liga MX. Reynolds and McElhenney also joined many of those same investors in buying La Equidad, a top-flight Colombian side.

Market chatter is that they aren’t done there…

Peyton Manning has invested in Denver’s NWSL team, with the expansion franchise due to join America’s top women’s soccer league in 2026.

The NFL legend won the second of his two career Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos and has been based in Colorado during his retirement.

Until the addition of Manning and skier Mikaela Shiffrin, the investor group had largely consisted of what one might describe as serious financial professionals including Robert Cohen and Nicole Glaros.

The team will eventually be known as one of the following names: Denver Peak FC, Colorado 14ers FC, Colorado Summit FC, Denver Elevate FC, Denver FC, or Denver Gold FC.

Billionaire Marc Lasry confirmed that he is still on the lookout for an NWSL team to invest in, though he will need to find a way around the league’s rules on private equity after the league office killed his $108m pursuit of the North Carolina Courage.

Lasry’s Avenue Capital had pursued Angel City before Bob Iger and Willow Bay completed their purchase of the Los Angeles franchise, and then turned their attentions to the Courage.

But by Lasry’s own admission, the league “ultimately decided they want individual owners as opposed to funds” and he continues to work with NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman to find an opportunity.

According to Forbes, the NWSL’s average EV-to-revenue multiple stands at 8.8x, which puts it behind the NBA, MLS and the NFL but ahead of every women’s football team that isn’t called Chelsea. Alexis Ohanian’s strategic investment in the west London club last month valued Chelsea at more than 17x their 2023/24 revenue.

Former Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has pulled out of a deal to buy Bordeaux.

Les Girondins were relegated to the amateur reaches of French football after chronic financial mismanagement by serial financial mismanager Gerard Lopez, but remain a club with a huge fanbase, a great stadium and therefore immense potential now they have effectively hit the reset button.

Kahn pulled out of the deal citing details discovered in diligence, though Lopez has since gone on the attack claiming that the German didn’t have the money to buy the club, which has been valued (by the seller, it should be noted) between €30-50m.

Reading’s new owner Rob Couhig is in talks with investors over joining the ownership group to help bankroll a much-needed return to the Championship.

The Royals were saved from the brink of administration by Couhig and his partner Todd Trosclair, and have since added a Miami-based investment group made up largely of Brazilian money, Aliya Capital.

Couhig told local radio in Berkshire that they aren’t done there, though, and would be looking to invest more in the squad as they begin to turn things around after the disastrous Dai Yongge era.

"We're doing some things to make sure that Todd and I are not alone out there with our money," Couhig told BBC Radio Berkshire.

"Although I think we could certainly afford it, we're bringing in a couple of partners that will add to our financial strength.

"When it comes to spending, you can't go in like Mr Dai (Yongge) did and just spend money on players without some rational basis to the revenue the club generates."

Reading lost £12m in 2023/24, down from £21m the season before but on drastically reduced revenues in League One.

World Cup debutants confirmed

The 2026 World Cup will have at least two first-time competitors after Jordan and Uzbekistan (a good name for a band) sealed their berths via the AFC qualifying process.

11 of the 46 competing nations are now known, four of those being confirmed in this window.

As well as the debutants, serial Asian qualifiers South Korea confirmed an eleventh consecutive World Cup appearance by hammering Kuwait 4-0 in Seoul.

34 year-old midfielder Mitch Duke, who plays for Machida Zelvia in Japan, scored the winner for Australia to secure their place at next summer’s global jamboree.

There won’t be news of any more now until September, when Africa and Europe have the chance to lock in their first qualifiers.

Pep talk

Manchester City continued Pep Guardiola’s summer overhaul yesterday by appointing two former Liverpool coaches to his back-room team.

Pep Lijnders, who was Jurgen Klopp's assistant for nine-and-a-half years at Anfield before joining Red Bull Salzburg last summer, is joining City as assistant coach with James French moving directly from Liverpool to become set-piece coach.

City's appointments following the departures of three of Guardiola's assistants at the end of last season, Juanma Lillo, Carlos Vicens, and Inigo Dominguez, with the manager eager to add fresh perspectives and different voices to his coaching team after ending last season without a trophy.

Lijnders only lasted seven months at Salzburg before being sacked in December. He has taken up the role of assistant coach at City. French will take on a new role at City having spent the last 13 years as an opposition analyst at Liverpool. 

AWFC make Emirates their home 

Arsenal will play all of the club’s 11 Women’s Super League home games at the Emirates Stadium next season.

The Champions League winners have steadily increased the number of matches played at the Emirates from three to six and then nine over the last three seasons, and announced yesterday that the ground will become their official home next season.

After struggling to attract large crowds for midweek Champions League group games however, Arsenal will begin the defence of the trophy at Meadow Park in Borehamwood for the new 18-team league phase stage, before switching to the Emirates for the knockout stages.

Arsenal’s historic move comes after a season in which WSL attendances dropped by 10 per cent following a sustained period of growth, with Manchester United and Aston Villa both seeing their crowds go down by over 30 per cent.

Arsenal also experienced a slight dip, but the club remain by far the best supported with average crowds at just under 30,000 – United are the only other club averaging more than 10,000 – and winning the Champions League should lead to a further bounce.

Much of the general decline can in large part be attributed to the poorly supported Crystal Palace replacing Bristol City in the WSL last season. The lack of a summer Lionesses boost last year was also undoubtedly a factor, which clubs are hoping will be different this year if England are successful in defending the European Championship, which will get primetime, mainstream coverage on the BBC and ITV.

Unrest sparks World Cup questions

The 2026 World Cup host cities admitted this week that they are “monitoring closely” the increasingly tense political situation in the United States amid rising tensions over President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.

The federal government last week imposed wide-ranging travel bans against over a dozen countries, including recently qualified Iran, although FIFA later clarified that they have secured exemptions for those involved in the tournament.

The travel bans have led to protests across the country however, particularly in New York and California, whose state government are threatening to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration. With up to six million tourists expected to attend the World Cup and visa processing times already slowing down 12 months out due to increased spot-kicks, the domestic political situation is a growing concern for the host cities.

Speaking in New York City on Monday, the Philadelphia host city executive Meg Kane said: “There are certainly things that are happening at the national level, the international level. There are going to be geo-political issues that we don’t even know right now that are going to affect the tournament next year.

“So we recognize that we’re planning within uncertainty. What we can say is that the current administration — while there are certain situations that we are watching, that we are certainly monitoring closely — has been extremely supportive of the World Cup.”

Tottenham clean house

They had to wait to let the dust settle on their Europa League triumph, but the Tottenham Hotspur hierarchy — mainly Daniel Levy — sacked both men’s and women’s head coaches as well as Chief Football Officer Scott Munn.

Spurs appear to be replacing Ange Postecoglou with Thomas Frank of Brentford, while Fabio Paratici looks set to step in for Munn.