You see, tours of Northern Europe were a common feature of our pre-season programmes in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s – with Scandinavia a particular favourite destination.
One particular tour, however, stands out at this time of year for the apt identity of our of our Finnish opponents.
In July 1997, off the back of winning promotion from the First Division back to the Premier League, Steve Coppell’s Palace embarked on a four-game Finnish Tour which began with a 4-0 victory over JJK, courtesy of a Gareth Davies hat-trick and one from Dougie Freedman.
Next up was an encounter with Kings SC two days later – a match, fittingly, played in Kuopio – which ended in a goalless draw with youngsters Danny Boxall and Steven Thomson given an outing. A third game, 48 hours later, saw Palace forward Itzik Zohar handed a trial, scoring the only goal in the 1-0 victory over Oulu.
Then finally, the following day, a match-up sure to evoke a smile at this time of year: Palace faced the wonderfully named FC Santa Claus at the Keskuskentta stadium in Rovaniemi, capital of Finland’s Lapland.
The globe’s most Christmas-themed football club – who use the English name of Santa Claus, as opposed to the Finnish name Joulupukki, for increased awareness – currently play in the Nelonen, the sixth tier of Finnish football. For the majority of their history, however, they have bounced between Finland’s third and fourth tiers.
Their origin story? Ask those at the club, and they’ll tell you it was formed in 1992 by Santa’s elves kicking a leather football in the snow in between wrapping presents, and that Santa himself – the club’s honorary manager – granted permission himself for his name to be used.