Crystal Palace’s last experience of European football came back in the 1990s in the Intertoto Cup.Following Eberechi Eze’s strike and Dean Henderson’s penalty heroics, Palace won the FA Cup for the first time in May beating Manchester City 1-0 at Wembley.
Eberechi Eze celebrates with the FA Cup trophy. (Photo by Eddie Keogh - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
Palace have now found out who they will face in the league phase on six Thursday nights between October and December.
The Eagles secured their qualification on Thursday night after a 0-0 draw in Norway and a 1-0 win on aggregate against Fredrikstad in their play-off game after Jean-Philippe Mateta’s goal in the first leg in South London.
Crystal Palace’s Conference League opponents
The 2025/26 season marks the second season in which UEFA competitions have followed a new format of a 36-team league phase with knockout play offs before the round of 16, quarter finals, semi-finals and final.
The 2023/24 season had marked the end of the traditional group stages with 32 teams.
If Crystal Palace finish in the top eight they will automatically qualify for the Round of 16.
If they finish between 9th and 24th they will have to go through the play off round to make it into the knockouts and if they finish between 25th and 36th they will be knocked out in the league phase.
AZ Alkmaar (H)
Dynamo Kiev (A)
KuPS Kuopio (H)
Strasbourg (A)
AEK Larnaca (H)
Shelbourne (A)
The kick-off times and dates for all Conference League ties are currently yet to be confirmed.
The league phase games will happen on 2nd October, 23rd October, 6th November, 27th November, 11th December and 18th December.
The final of the tournament will be held in Leipzig on the 27th May 2026 after the Premier League season has finished.
It is worth noting that Palace’s schedule will be a Thursday-Sunday for much of the season because of their European participation.
Games at Everton’s new stadium the Hill Dickinson, Eberechi Eze’s new home the Emirates, ‘derby’ day at home to Brighton, home games against both Manchester United and Manchester City and an away game against Leeds are likely to be moved to Sunday and chosen for television as Sky are showing more games this season.
Dean Henderson celebrates the FA Cup win. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
There are currently no head-to-head games between Crystal Palace and any of their six oppositions as they have never played any of them.
Palace face French, Irish, Ukrainian, Cypriot, Finish and Dutch opponents in the league phase.
The Eagles have recently played against French opponents Lyon two summer’s ago in a pre-season friendly which they won 2-0.
There are currently four French players in Palace’s squad. Maxence Lacroix and Jean-Philippe Mateta will play a big part in the league phase while Naouirou Ahamada and Odsonne Edouard may leave the club before the end of the window.
Jean-Philippe Mateta cooms the Wembley corner flag. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
In recent years there have been a number of Irish Eagles including current assistant Paddy McCarthy, James McCarthy and Damien Delaney. Crystal Palace did sign a player from Shelbourne just over 18 months ago. Youngster Luke Browne who has played one game this season in the Premier League Two.
The most noticeable Finnish Eagle over the years was midfielder Aki Riihilahti who made 174 appearances between 2001 and 2006.
Jairo Riedewald, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Patrick van Aanholt have represented Palace recently from the Netherlands.