Our European Finalists: Roy Hodgson’s message to Palace fans ahead of Leipzig

Croydon-born Hodgson became manager of his boyhood club in September 2017, helping the club maintain its Premier League status on four consecutive occasions, before returning in March 2023 and guiding the club to safety for a fifth time.

His illustrious career has spanned over five decades and 16 clubs in eight nations, including leading the national team of four countries, with his honours including seven Swedish League titles, two Swedish Cup wins, one Swiss title and one Danish title.

Hodgson was there at Wembley to cheer on Palace onto glory against Manchester City last year and – although he is not due to travel to Leipzig this year – he is hoping to see the club conclude their debut European campaign with the lifting of another trophy.

“You always hope for it, of course,” Hodgson told cpfc.co.uk of Palace’s first venture into Europe.

“In my latter spell, there was more optimism, if you like, of it being a possibility that the team would kick on and do better, simply because of the players that had been signed during that period of time.

“The last two players signed during my time at the club were Daniel Muñoz and Adam Wharton. But before that, it was players like Marc Guéhi and Michael Olise… Ebere Eze was starting to come good, and Jean-Philippe Mateta was the same.

“That team there was looking like a team that could certainly move up the table, and if you get up the table and get into that top half, and if you start to do well in the cup competitions, then there's always an opportunity.

“It’s a very well-run club. Steve Parish and the people around him, like Doug Freedman who worked with him for many years, have done an excellent job building up to this position.”

Hodgson has recently concluded a seven-match spell in charge of Championship club Bristol City, but has continued to follow Palace in Europe with interest.

He noted: “I suppose the enjoyment I got from watching the FA Cup Final last year was also due to the fact that I'd worked with nine of the eleven players.

“They'd been important people during my time at the club, so of course I took a lot of enjoyment from that.

"All one does is one's job, and one tries to help players and the team as best one can – but it's the person who's in charge at any time of that team that needs to get the credit for any results that are achieved.

“It was a good five-plus years at the club for me. It was good also, especially in the latter stages, to be able to work with players like Olise and Eze and Wharton. It's been even nicer, if you like, to see them, and the team, succeed.

“Another player I'm very pleased to see do well is Ismaïla Sarr, who I worked with at Watford for three or four months. It’s really been good for me to see how well he's done, because I think he's another one who stepped in in the absence of Eze and Olise and really made a big difference.

“He's obviously at a club he wants to be at, and he's being coached well."

Hodgson knows first-hand the challenges of preparing a squad to take on Europe, having guided Fulham – against all odds – to the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final.

The Cottagers’ run to the Final in Hamsburg – where they were defeated 2-1 after extra-time, after a wonderful goal from Diego Forlan with four minutes remaining – was impressive enough in itself, as they eliminated the likes of Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus and Wolfsburg.

Playing 19 additional matches that season while finishing 12th in the Premier League, Hodgson understands the impressive nature of a team which can remain competitive in both domestic and European football simultaneously.

“We had a very small squad – we weren't geared at Fulham for that,” Hodgson admitted. “My job at Fulham when I got to the club in 2008 was to avoid relegation, which we did on the final day of the season with an away win at Portsmouth.

“We did our best to improve the team, but there was not the amount of money to spend that would have immediately made us stronger, so we were working with players that we knew – one or two I knew from Norway, and players like Zoltan Gera and Damien Duff.

“I think if you're going to go into European football, you've got to be very fortunate to have enough players to be able to rest them on a fairly regular basis, because it certainly affected us in the matches we had to play on the Sunday after the Thursday.

“We had a very, very tough competition – we played Roma in the group stages [drawing 1-1 at home], and Basel who hadn’t lost at home [Fulham won 3-2 in Switzerland]. We played Shakhtar, who had a multi-talented group of Brazilians, some of whom went on to be big players in England: Fernandinho and Willian, to name just two.

“It was a really tough run to the Final. But it was a wonderful spell, and meeting Atletico in the Final, they had a number of important players and big players – but we came close.

“It was very good for the club, just as Palace's run in the Conference League has been very good for the club as well.

“The Fulham fans still to this day remind me of the final despite the fact we lost it in Hamburg against Atletico. It's going to be very much the same for Crystal Palace and the Palace fans.

“They're going to be talking about reaching the Conference League Final for years to come, especially on the back of winning a major trophy.”

Given the rarity of a European Final, then, we ask Hodgson if he hopes his fellow Palace fans cherish the experience of this week.

“That’s a good word – you should definitely use that one!” he laughs. “I think the fans and everyone at the club should cherish it, because it's an achievement for a start, and it's one which is difficult to match.

“It’s not a given to reach any Final. It takes a lot of work, but also you need a lot of things to go your way as you move towards one.

“Then, of course you really do hope that in the Final, as we saw with Aston Villa [in last week’s Europa League Final], things are going to click perfectly, and you're going to be playing at your very best and maybe meeting an opponent that can't deal with you.

“Good luck to everyone on Wednesday. I shall be keeping my fingers crossed that any luck this game will go Palace's way.

“I think that they are a strong enough team and are probably, if anything, going into this Final as favourites. It’s good, because it proves that everyone believes, as I’m sure the team itself believes, that we're going to do this because we're good enough and we're going to be the better team on the night.

“Fingers crossed for that – and I hope it's a good trip for everybody. I know the Palace fans will do their bit. They'll be delighted to be there, so the support will be fantastic.

“And I hope, soon, I should be sending a few congratulatory messages to people on their recently acquired European title.”

2026 UEFA Conference League Final

Crystal Palace v Rayo Vallecano

• Wednesday, 27th May
• 20:00 BST UK time / 21:00 CEST local time
• Leipzig Stadium, Germany
• Live audio commentary on Palace TV+
• Visit our Conference League Final Hub