How our European Final opponents Rayo Vallecano reached Leipzig

Club

21 May 2026

Crystal Palace will face Rayo Vallecano in the UEFA Conference League Final on Wednesday, 27th May in Leipzig – so let's take a look back at their journey.

The La Liga side overcame Strasbourg in other semi-final, meaning the 2026 UEFA Conference League Final will be a meeting between England and Spain in Germany.

Here's a quickfire guide on Vallecano's European pedigree....

Click here for everything you need to know about the 2026 Conference League Final.

History in Europe

Like Palace, the meeting in Leipzig will be Rayo Vallecano's first European final.

But this season isn't their first when it comes to competing across the continent. A beneficiary of UEFA's Fair Play award saw Vallecano participate the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup, via the backdoor of the qualifying rounds.

But after getting themselves into the main draw, they went on an excellent run, reaching the last eight.

Ultimately the Madrid-based club came unstuck in the quarter-final, losing 4-2 on aggregate to fellow Spanish side Alaves.

Coincidentally, Alaves went on to reach the UEFA Cup Final, losing a nine-goal thriller to Liverpool 5-4 – another England v Spain club final that was played in Germany.

Their road to Leipzig

The 2025/26 Conference League was only Vallecano's second European campaign. They reached the league phase after a comfortable 5-0 play-off win over Neman Grodno.

Once there they made a strong start by taking seven points from their first three games, with 2-0 and 3-2 home wins against Shkëndija (Macedonia) and Lech Poznań (Poland) respectively, plus a 2-2 draw on the road at Swedish side Häcken.

But like Palace, they Spanish side haven't had things all their own way. On matchday four ŠK Slovan Bratislava edged them out 2-1 in Slovakia, leaving them 12th in the table and with work to do to qualify.

But Iñigo Pérez's side responded in a calm and efficient manner, winning their next two games away to Jagiellonia Białystok and at home to Drita.

Finishing in fifth place in the final league table, Vallecano qualified automatically for the Round of 16, avoiding the play-off round and being paired with Turkish side Samsunspor.

In their return to European football after the winter, Vallecano navigated a tricky tie to reach their first European quarter-final in 25 years.

The hard work was done in the first leg away from home. Goals from Alemão (2) and Álvaro García sealed a 3-1 win in Turkey, meaning that despite a nervy 1-0 loss in the return leg, Pérez's side were in the quarter-finals.

They suffered a scare in the second leg against AEK Athens in the last eight as well. They dominated the first leg, with a 3-0 win in front of their own fans.

They got off to a dream start when lias Akhomach struck inside two minutes in front of a partisan home crowd.

It was 2-0 in first-half stoppage time when former Bilbao midfielder Unai Lopez reacted quickly after Thomas Strakosha saved Akhomach’s effort. AEK improved after the break but were unable to get themselves on the scoresheet.

And when a VAR review deemed there was a handball in the AEK penalty area, Isi Palazón converted to seal a 3-0 win for the La Liga side.

A 3-1 defeat in Athens followed the following week, but the flying performance from the first leg proved enough to reach the semi-finals.

In the last four, Strasbourg stood in their way, a side widely considered as one of the tournament favourites at the start of the season.

Yet Rayo progressed with clean sheets in both legs. In the first leg in Madrid, Vallecano came out quickly after the break and forced a crucial breakthrough.

Brazilian forward Alemao met Isi Palazon's corner at the near post to score his third European goal of the season.

Defender Florian Lejeune nearly doubled the lead with a header, only for Penders to make a clutch save and push his header off the line.

Yet it didn't matter after an even better showing from the La Liga side in the second leg. Forward Alemao was once again the scorer, with an opportunistic strike from eight yards after the ball was parried back into his path.

Strasbourg were unable to mount any meaningful response after the break, with Vallecano hanging on to set up a meeting with Palace later this month.

2026 UEFA Conference League Final

Crystal Palace v Rayo Vallecano

Wednesday, 27th May
21:00 CEST local time / 20:00 BST
Red Bull Stadium, Germany

Visit out Conference League Final Hub

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