Crystal Palace desperately did not want to be in the Conference League – now they are one game from winning it and creating more club history.
On one of the greatest nights the club has known at a passionate and raucous Selhurst Park, the Eagles beat Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 to seal a 5-2 aggregate success in the semi-finals.
Having won the FA Cup and Community Shield in 2025 at Wembley, their remarkable European journey started in a Swiss courtroom, unsuccessfully appealing against demotion into the Conference League from the second-tier Europa League.
But since then, Palace have not looked back.
They have travelled to Norway, Poland, France, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Italy and back to Poland, with one last stop to come – the final in Germany.
And should Palace lift the trophy on Wednesday, 27 May, in Leipzig against Spanish side Rayo Vallecano, who defeated Gary O’Neil’s Strasbourg 2-0 on aggregate in their semi-final, it would complete an unprecedented phase of success for the club.
Boss Oliver Glasner, who will leave in the summer having only been appointed in February 2024, is on the verge of a third trophy in a remarkable period.
Even the 51-year-old could not believe what has been achieved.
“I spoke to the chairman before the match, he always comes into my office,” said Glasner afterwards.
“I said, ‘do you ever think we would be playing in the semi-final of a European competition?’ He said ‘no’.
“I said, ‘when we talked for the first time three years ago, I didn’t think about it’. This is what you achieve if you work hard and stick together in tough moments – and we have had a few. When you stick together in difficult moments, you get the reward.”