Revisiting Palace’s FA Cup semi-final history

Club

23 Apr 2025

Crystal Palace are preparing for their seventh-ever FA Cup semi-final, as they prepare to take on Aston Villa at Wembley on Saturday 26th April (17:15 BST).

The club has come on leaps and bounds in its entire 163-year history, and has made some incredible memories in FA Cup semi-finals along the way. Here’s a look back at how each one played out:

17th February 1872 - Royal Engineers v Crystal Palace

Being founding members of the Football Association, Palace have a long-standing association with the FA Cup and competed in the first-ever semi-final in 1872.

This match took place in south London, albeit at the Kennington Oval, which used to host football matches as well as cricket. The score was 0-0, leading to another first - an FA Cup semi-final replay.

Unfortunately, Palace were beaten 3-0 by Royal Engineers in the replay at the Kennington Oval, dashing their hopes of making the first-ever FA Cup final.

Palace continued to have a long-standing association with the FA Cup from this inaugural tournament, hosting many semi-finals and finals along the way at what is now the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, but the next time they would be in a semi-final was almost 100 years later…

3rd April 1976 - Southampton v Crystal Palace

The Third Division Eagles went on a remarkable run under Malcolm Allison to reach the 1976 FA Cup semi-final against Southampton.

Palace’s run to the semi-final in the 1975/76 season started with a 1-0 win over Walton & Hersham in the first round proper, before overcoming local rivals Millwall 2-1 in a replay at Selhurst Park. A trip to Northern League outfit Scarborough followed, with Palace narrowly edging them out 1-0.

Back-to-back upsets against First Division Leeds United at Elland Road and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge followed, with the Eagles winning 1-0 and 3-2 respectively.

A 1-0 victory against Sunderland at Roker Park set up the clash against Southampton, however the final was once again out of reach for the south London outfit, as they fell to a 2-0 defeat against the Saints.

8th April 1990 - Crystal Palace v Liverpool

A game that is written into the Palace history books. Coming into the game off the back of a 9-0 defeat to Liverpool seven months prior, the Eagles had a point to prove and overcame all the odds by winning 4-3 after extra time.

Goals from Mark Bright, Gary O'Reilly and Andy Gray were enough to bring the Reds to extra time, where Alan Pardew crept in at the back post to head home the winner in the 106th minute.

Prior results on this run include three home wins against Portsmouth, Huddersfield and Rochdale, before an away win against Cambridge United to set up the semi-final.

This set Palace on their way to an FA Cup final for the first time ever, where they drew 3-3 with Manchester United initially, before narrowly losing out 1-0 in the replay at Wembley.

9th and 12th April 1995 - Crystal Palace v Manchester United

Yet another close-fought affair which saw the Eagles narrowly miss out on a second FA Cup final in five years. The tie needed to be settled with a replay, after the first match ended in a 2-2 draw at Villa Park after extra time - Iain Dowie and Chris Armstrong netted for Palace.

Manchester United won the replay 2-0 three days later, after both sides were reduced to 10 men. A valiant effort from Palace against the side which eventually went on to win the Premier League title that season.

Earlier results on this run to the semi-final included a routine 5-1 win over Lincoln City, a 2-1 win away at the City Ground, and two wins in replays against Watford and Wolverhampton Wanderers respectively.

24th April 2016 - Crystal Palace v Watford

Palace’s second-ever visit to the new Wembley stadium saw them take on Watford in the 2016 FA Cup semi-final, the same opponents as our first outing at the new Wembley in the play-off final victory in 2013.

The contest was blown open from the start, with Yannick Bolasie heading home Damien Delaney’s flick-on six minutes in. Watford pulled one back in the second-half through captain Troy Deeney, but the Eagles persevered.

On the hour mark, Pape Souaré whipped in a cross to find Connor Wickham - the Eagles' striker losing his marker and planting a header firmly in the back of the net to secure a 2-1 win and a place in the FA Cup final.

Manchester United were the opponents once again in Palace’s second-ever FA Cup final, and unfortunately a late Jesse Lingard goal in extra-time saw the Red Devils claim the trophy.

In the run leading up to the semi-final, Palace enjoyed wins over Southampton, Stoke City, Tottenham Hotspur and Reading - all of which were away from home, apart from the clash against the Potters.

17th April 2022 - Chelsea v Crystal Palace

Palace’s most recent appearance at Wembley came just over three years ago as they faced London rivals Chelsea under the arch. A close-fought affair saw the Blues eventually come away as 2-0 winners, quashing hopes of another final for Palace.

Despite the defeat, Palace painted Wembley red and blue once more, and enjoyed a strong run in the competition - trouncing local rivals Millwall 3-1 on their own turf, before victories against Hartlepool United and Stoke culminated in a 4-0 thrashing of Everton to get to the semi-final.

It’s now all to play for on Saturday, 26th April as Palace make their way to north west London, in hope of another shot at cup glory.

Match Details

Crystal Palace v Aston Villa
Saturday, 26th April
Wembley Stadium
17:15 BST
LIVE Audio commentary on Palace TV+

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