Chris Richards on creating history for club and country

And with a home World Cup tournament on the horizon next summer, the defender hopes his ‘whirlwind’ of a last three months will pave the way for him to fulfil even more of his dreams in the near future…

This interview was initially conducted in August 2025, and was published in the Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest programme - you can buy previous issues of the matchday programme by clicking HERE.

In the immediate aftermath of the FA Cup final at Wembley, it was impossible to know where to look – if indeed you could, and didn’t have tears in your eyes.

Confetti cannons popping off, the West side of Wembley bouncing, ‘Winnners’ graphics everywhere, players dancing in disbelief, and the world’s most famous piece of domestic silverware being passed around somewhere in the middle of it all. It all amounted to some of the most exuberant, genuine celebrations you’re likely to see from a group of elite footballers.

This Palace team hadn’t just won the FA Cup by seeing off Manchester City – they had a won a place in South London folklore which will remain far longer in this corner of the world than any physical trophy.

And the best thing about these players writing that history? The fact that what it meant was not lost on a single one of them.

At 25 years of age, Chris Richards has won a Bundesliga and multiple Supercups with Bayern Munich in the past, as well as scored in a Nations League final for his country.

He has enjoyed many a high in the game already – but that day at Wembley “was one of the best days in my life so far – in fact, it has to be my number one career achievement.

“It wasn’t just because we won a trophy, but because we did it for Palace – the first title in the club’s history! It took some time to sink in, but eventually it did with all the videos I saw on social media, and the messages and videos afterwards…

“I have a good friend who works at the store that I love. He said he’d love to take his grandfather, who has been a Palace fan since he was a Season Ticket holder in the ‘60s. He asked me for tickets to the semi-final game because his granddad hadn’t been in 40 years. I surprised him with two tickets to the final and said, ‘Please bring your grandad – because we’re going to win this today.’

“Afterwards, he sent me a message, saying how happy he was that he was in the stands for the game – but also saying just how much it meant not just to him, but to his whole family, because generations of his family had never seen the club win a title.

“It meant a lot to me, but I think all of us, as a collective, understood how much it meant to South London. I think that’s what made the whole day so much better.

“Maybe if you’re at City or Liverpool, and this stuff goes under the radar. Not at Palace. When you do something for the first time… and in the way we did it? It was perfect.”

As for the reception back home? “I think it just showed Americans how big and epic the FA Cup is!” he laughs.

“With me and Matt [Turner] being the third and fourth Americans to win it, it wrote our names in the history books for the USA, too.

“My Mom and Dad were at Wembley that day, and the FA Cup was something that was on TV a lot for us growing up – but it was the first time they truly got to embrace the competition. They got to experience Wembley with almost 100,000 people in there.

"They said afterwards it was their favourite game of mine they’ve ever been to.”

After a well-earned celebration – or several – Richards could have been forgiven for looking forward to unwinding over the summer, having taken part in the Nations League finals two years ago, and then represented the Stars and Stripes at the Copa América last year. But it was never on for Richards.

“It’s been kind of like a whirlwind, the last three months,” he laughs.

With the time off he did have over the summer, the defender spent a week in Mykonos, Greece; spent some quality time with family and friends; and even dabbled in punditry at the Club World Cup – “a little side quest,” he quips, before admitting “it was very hard – and very hot outside!”

For the future of his sport back home, it is a seminal moment.

In the last three years alone, the US has hosted two Gold Cup finals, the Copa América and the inaugural Club World Cup, with next summer’s FIFA World Cup finals still to come.

“I knew going into the Gold Cup that it was going to be five or six weeks long, and I was going to have a lot less time for holiday this year,” Richards admits. “But it was all preparation for next year.

“It was a long summer in that respect. We started training on 1st June, and ended on the 7th July. But I always appreciate every time I get to wear the crest, and I get to hear the national anthem on the field. it means so much to me.

“Over the last few years, American social media around the game has been booming. When you see football jerseys everywhere around the US, it just brings more attention to the game.

"A lot of people are geared up for the World Cup – and I think everything that’s happened has just been increasing the love for the sport back home.”

The defender visited nine cities during his Gold Cup campaign over the summer, starting all six of his country’s matches. He scored twice: the winner against Saudi Arabia in the group stages, and the opening goal in the final, an eventual 2-1 loss to Mexico in Houston.

After a breakthrough season with Palace – Richards having played every minute in our FA Cup run, and cemented his place in a solid back three alongside Marc Guéhi and Maxence Lacroix – the defender has exerted a similar level of influence over his national side of late.

“I think this summer was the first time I’d really taken on a leadership role with the US,” he reflected.

“You know, I think when you first come to a new club, or when you first step into the national team, you kind of have this… I wouldn’t say ‘humbleness’ about you, but a need to try and learn your environment first.

“I’ve been here at Palace for a few years now, and also with the national team for a few years. I’m 25 now. I’m not a kid anymore – so it’s time for me to step up.

“It’s something I feel I did this summer with the national team, and I want to bring it even more with Palace. With the season that I had, it gave me confidence going into the summer. And then with the summer I’ve just had, it gives me confidence going into this season.

“We probably started off last season a bit slow because we came into it with a bit too much confidence after how we finished the previous year. We know that we had success in the end – but we also know that if we had done just one percent better at the beginning of the season, we could have finished in a different spot in the table.

“This season has come around very quickly, so it’s important we have both a little humbleness about us, but also confidence based on the end of last season too. We need to strike the right balance.”

It has indeed been a fine run. Richards has started 11 of Palace’s last 12 domestic matches in all competitions, and Palace are unbeaten in that time, boasting five clean sheets and Wembley wins over Aston Villa (as well as another at Villa Park), Manchester City and Liverpool.

In two continental matches last month, as well, Richards helped Palace qualify for the UEFA Conference League – our first-ever major continental adventure.

And the defender, who has previously played in the Champions League and Europa League for Bayern, is as excited as every Palace supporter by the prospect.

Speaking ahead of those matches against Fredrikstad, he said: “Everybody’s just looking forward to it, you know. I don’t even know if I remember what European football feels like – I was 19 or 20, so it’s been a few years!

“But I remember hearing the anthem and having goosebumps, because it’s something you dream about as a kid – so regardless of what competition we’re in, I know we’re going to go in full force to try to win it.”

As for his domestic hopes for Palace? “We want to finish higher up the table, and maybe qualify for Europe through the league – but also, hopefully, we’d love to win another trophy.

“This season is also just about lifting the standards for the club going forward. I think, for every future team that comes into Palace, there’s now this kind of bar that we’ve set – and we just want to keep raising that.

“As a team, we all love each other, so it makes us want to work even harder for each other on the field. The coaching staff, when they first came in, told us they wanted us to make history with Palace. We all had that same desire, but at first, we struggled to find the avenue to explore it.

“But the gaffer kept telling us: ‘You’re going to win titles’ – and that’s exactly what we did.”

At the end of the campaign, Richards will surely hope for a third straight busy summer with the United States, when the World Cup finals come calling.

At the heart of that hope, a more personal motivation: “I think the biggest challenge of my career was when I missed out on the World Cup in 2022.

“It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to play in it – but in ’22, I got injured right before it. I think that was probably the lowest point of my career. I was that close to playing in the ‘dream tournament’, the biggest games ever, but I missed out on it.

“It took some time to get out of that slump – but I’m here now. Two years later, I won the FA Cup!

“There’s always another day – I think that’s the biggest thing. Today might be a tough day, but tomorrow, you have 24 hours to change that narrative.”

Spoken like a true leader.