New York Jets co-owner Woody Johnson has signed an agreement with John Textor to buy his shares in Crystal Palace.
The deal for Textor’s 43 per cent stake, worth in excess of £190m, is currently going through the process of Premier League approval.
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UEFA are now expected to ratify FA Cup winners Palace‘s participation in the Europa League by the end of this month.
The Eagles had been in danger of being dumped out of Europe’s second-tier competition due to UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules.
That is because Textor also controls Ligue 1 giants Lyon, who will also be plying their trade in the Europa League in the 2025/26 season.
Textor became involved in Palace in August 2021, where he invested £86m for 43 per cent of the ownership of the club.
A Crystal Palace statement read: “Crystal Palace Football Club can confirm that Robert Wood Johnson, ‘Woody’, an American businessman and co-owner of the New York Jets, has signed a legally binding contract to purchase Eagle Football’s holding in the club.
“Whilst the completion is pending approval from the Premier League and Women’s Super League, we do not envisage any issues and look forward to welcoming Woody as a partner and director of the club.
“We would like to go on record to thank John Textor for his contribution over the past four years and wish him every success for the future.”
For Jets co-owner Johnson, it will be his first step into football having previously made a £2billion bid to buy Chelsea in 2022.
Though Johnson, who is worth a reported £2.4bn, later withdrew from the bidding process.
The 78-year-old though has plenty of experiences in professional sport having acquired the New York Jets of the NFL alongside his brother Christopher for £472m in 2000.
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And 25 years later, they are estimated to be worth in the region of £5.1bn.
Johnson also oversaw the Jets moving into the MetLife Stadium in 2020, which will host the 2026 World Cup final.
However, the Jets are yet to win the Super Bowl under his stewardship.
The Jets, who finished with a disappointing 5-12 record in the 2024 regular season, haven’t reached the play-offs since 2010.
American businessman Johnson is also a well-known figure in UK politics, with Donald Trump appointing him as the US ambassador to the UK during his first term from 2017-2021.
He must now pass the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test before his agreement to buy Textor’s Palace shares can be ratified.
At this stage, it remains unclear whether Johnson has set his sights on a full takeover.
Though it is believed that despite him to own 43 per cent of Palace, he will only have a quarter share of the voting rights.
That was the same set-up Textor had, with chairman Steve Parish and US investors David Blitzer and Josh Harris also having a quarter of the rights each.
