How Crystal Palace's UEFA Conference League final affects European qualification

Crystal Palace would be the ninth Premier League club competing in Europe next season if they win the UEFA Conference League.

Oliver Glasner's team face La Liga side Rayo Vallecano in the final at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig tonight (Wednesday, 20:00 BST).

Should Palace triumph in Germany, becoming the third English club to win the Conference League in its five years after West Ham United (2023) and Chelsea (2025), they would automatically qualify for the league phase of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League.

The Eagles' entry in that competition would not affect any other Premier League clubs. Instead, they would be the third English team in next season's Europa League, joining AFC Bournemouth and Sunderland, who qualified after their respective sixth and seventh-place finishes in the Premier League table.

Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool will all play in the UEFA Champions League next season after finishing in the top five, while eighth-placed Brighton & Hove Albion will be in the Conference League.

Palace finished well outside the top eight, in 15th place, but winning the Conference League would give them an immediate return to Europe. This would mean the Premier League matching its own record of nine English clubs in UEFA competitions, following the same number in 2025/26.

Four of the nine clubs would be changed from 2025/26 to 2026/27, with Bournemouth, Brighton, Man Utd and Sunderland replacing Chelsea, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur.

Glasner eyes UEFA glory for Palace - this season and next

Wednesday night's final against Vallecano will be Glasner's last match as Palace manager, with the Austrian announcing in January that he would leave Selhurst Park when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Glasner won the FA Cup with the Eagles last season, the first major trophy in the club's history, which led to their very first European campaign.

Asked about the prospect of winning more silverware, Glasner said in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday: "I told the players the best thing would be winning tomorrow, but not just for winning tomorrow, but because then they’d play European football in the Europa League next year.

"I would then like to watch them on TV and see them start the Europa League with the desire and the confidence that they could win the Europa League as well.

"This would make me really happy, because then I think we created a mindset all together where at the end it's always successful.

"That doesn't mean that you win a trophy every single year, but at the end, you will always get the best out of every single player and every single team.

"That's why I hope that we win tomorrow, and that these players can play European football next year again."

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