Crystal Palace won the 5th Conference League trophy.
"The Crystals" won their first European title in 121 years of history. Victory over Rayo Vallecano 1-0
The clearly superior
Crystal Palace "bent" the fighting
Rayo Vallecano 1-0
with Matetasto "redeeming" in the 51st minute and won the
5th Conference League. Thus, the team of Austrian
Oliver Glasner made history by winning its first European title! The Londoners were superior for most of the final, and rightfully lifted the Conference League trophy in Leipzig.
So, magical days for Oliver Glasner in its technical leadership, Palace is living, which after the FA Cup and the Community Shield, also won the Conference League, reaching the first European title in the first final in its history. After the 1-0 in Germany against Rayo Vallecano, the Austrian coach, who is leaving, expanded his personal palmares after having celebrated the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022.
Glasner's team gave the credit to the losers of the evening. Inigo Perez's players did not take the trophy, but at least they accepted the credit from the British, who gave them a pasillo.
Crystal Palace continues to ... fly high. The game was not ... a monologue, but the clearest opportunities belonged to Oliver Glasner's team, who also had a rare, double post shortly after the goal, with the small international Spanish midfielder, Jeremy Pina.
After a mediocre and relatively balanced first half, the English came out very strong in the second half and took the lead with Jean Philippe Mateta in the 51st minute. In the 56th minute, they had an incredible three-goal performance, while in the 57th minute, Mateta “touched” a second goal, but goalkeeper Batalla told him no. The Spanish team, for its part, pressed hard towards the end, but failed to become particularly threatening.
Palace were initially meant to take part in Europe's second-tier competition, the Europa League. However, they were demoted to the Conference League following breached regulations because former co-owner John Textor held shares in Palace and Olympique Lyon, with the latter also qualifying for the same competition.
They will now participate in the Europa League in 2026/27 as a result of their Conference League victory.
Palace finished outside the top eight during the league phase and had to play an extra game in a knockout play-off. En route to the final, they saw off Zriniski Mostar, AEK Larnaca, Fiorentina and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Palace star Ismaila Sarr is the competition's top scorer with nine goals in 13 games, while no other teammate has scored more than twice. Daichi Kamada has four assists, the second-highest in the competition.
In addition to the historic first European trophy, which Crystal Palace managed to put in its palmares, it also managed to secure a European ticket (for the League Phase of the Europa League), something it did not have from its position in the championship.
It is worth noting that Crystal Palace managed to lift the European trophy in its 121st year of existence in its maiden season in Europe, while this was Oliver Glasner's 121st game in management, but also the last for his team.
This made them the third different English team to lift the trophy. The first was West Ham in 2023 (they were beaten 2-1 by Fiorentina). The second was in 2025 with Chelsea who crushed Betis 4-1.
This made them the third different English team to lift the trophy. The first was West Ham in 2023, when they were beaten 2-1 by Fiorentina in the final in the second year of the competition. The second was in 2025 by Chelsea with a 4-1 win over Betis.
The list of Conference League holders:
2022 Roma
2023 West Ham
2024 Olympiacos
2025 Chelsea
2026 Crystal Palace

Manos Staramopoulos
Journalist and Analyst of International Football and Affairs
Chief Editor English Zone of Discoveryfootball.com
Athens (Greece).












