Crystal Palace won the UEFA Conference League on Wednesday with a 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig, Germany. The win completed an extraordinary run of silverware for the south London club under manager Oliver Glasner.
According to a report by BBC Sport, it was Glasner's final game in charge of the club. The title came at the end of a 12-month stretch in which Palace also won the FA Cup and the Community Shield, all within 375 days.
Before Glasner arrived, Crystal Palace had gone 120 years without winning a major trophy.
Glasner was appointed in February 2024 after the departure of Roy Hodgson. It was sporting director Dougie Freedman who had tracked Glasner's career in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt and arranged an initial meeting between the manager and club chairman Steve Parish in late 2023. Parish typically preferred managers with Premier League experience, but made an exception.
The path to the Conference League title was not smooth. After beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley, Palace received a significant setback in early July when UEFA demoted them from the Europa League to the Conference League. The ruling came after UEFA determined the club had breached multi-club ownership rules. American businessman John Textor held ownership stakes in both Crystal Palace and French club Lyon, which had also qualified for the Europa League. Parish described the decision as "probably one of the greatest injustices that has ever happened in European football." An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was unsuccessful.
Palace responded by defeating Premier League champions Liverpool in the Community Shield, also at Wembley. The club then absorbed more turbulence with the departure of Eberechi Eze, described as a talisman for the team.
Palace midfielder Adam Wharton spoke about the impact Glasner had on the club. "He has got to be one of the best managers Crystal Palace have ever had," Wharton said. "He has made a massive difference for how the club looks at competitions. We are not just looking to stay in the Premier League and be in Europe, we are looking to win and be as high as possible."
The Conference League title is Glasner's last act with the club. No successor has been announced.
