The beauty of the third-tier Conference League is it enables team from smaller countries to compete in the group stages – and allow teams that don’t win many trophies to succeed.
And Chelsea.
Until the Blues steamrolled everyone last season to win the Conference League, the previous winners had been Roma, West Ham and Olympiakos.
Roma ended a 14-year trophy drought, while it was 43 years for West Ham – and a Greek club had never won a European trophy before Olympiakos.
So it is far from inconceivable that a team like Crystal Palace could lift it this time.
The top seven countries in Uefa’s rankings only had one team each in it.
They are Palace, Fiorentina, Rayo Vallecano, Mainz, Strasbourg, AZ Alkmaar – and Santa Clara, who lost to Shamrock Rovers so are out.
And, having won the FA Cup in May, the Eagles actually have better recent pedigree than any of those other teams.
Since 2002, of those teams, only Strasbourg (two French League Cups) and AZ (one Dutch title and one Dutch Cup) have won anything.
Palace defender Chris Richards said: “Everybody is super excited. We are an ambitious club, and now is time to win some games in Europe. We are ready to make history.”
Boss Glasner won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2021-22.
Former Palace striker Glenn Murray, speaking on Channel 5, added: “Oliver Glasner has done it at the European level. To have him in charge, they have a special talent there.
“I feel as though they will navigate it, and they will weigh the balance of the Premier League and Europe. Hopefully they can reach the later stages.”
Ex-England defender Matt Upson, who had a brief loan spell at Palace in 2001, said: “They have shown they can navigate cup competitions.
“They have a manager who is very pragmatic and knows how to get there, which gives them every chance.”
