Palace in Europe: An introduction to our six league phase opponents

First-team

29 Aug 2025

Following Friday's draw, Crystal Palace's six opponents for the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League have now been confirmed.

Palace will play each opponent once, with three games at Selhurst Park and three away from home.

The six matchdays will run on Thursday night from October to December, with the dates here.

Matchday 1: Thursday, 2nd October
Matchday 2: Thursday, 23rd October
Matchday 3: Thursday, 6th November
Matchday 4: Thursday, 27th November
Matchday 5: Thursday, 11th December
Matchday 6: Thursday, 18th December

Although we now know the identity of our European opponents, the match calendar – the dates and kick-off times of each fixture – will be finalised over the coming days. This will be announced in due course on cpfc.co.uk and via the Official Palace App.

So before the details are confirmed, here's a quick introduction to our European opponents...

Shelbourne (Republic of Ireland)

Dublin will be the venue for one of Palace's three away games with a trip to face Shelbourne at Tolka Park in the offing.

Shelbourne are reigning League of Ireland Premier Division champions, having won the title in the 2024 season. This saw them qualify initially for the Champions League, but having overcome Linfield initially, a defeat to Qarabag saw them drop into Europa League qualifying, where they then played Croatian side Rijeka.

Going out on aggregate saw them drop into the Conference League play-offs where, remarkably, they were drawn for a rematch with Linfield – and emerged victors for a second time, 5-1 on aggregate, to secure a place in the league phase.

Shelbourne won the title last year under the management of former Chelsea, Newcastle and Fulham winger Damien Duff – although the Irishman resigned back in June.

AEK Larnaca (Cyprus)

Formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EPA Larnaca and Pezoporikos, AEK Larnaca have since finished as Cyprus Championship runners-up on six occasions.

They have previously played in the Champions League at the qualifying stage, and last season won the Cypriot Cup to qualify for the Europa League play-offs.

Beaten by Norwegian side Brann, they now drop into the Conference League. Not that this will be their first experience of the tournament – in 2022/23 they reached the last 16, before falling to eventual winners West Ham, 6-0 on aggregate.

Larnaca play at the relatively new AEK Arena – George Karapatakis, which was opened in 2016 and has a capacity of just over 8,000.

KuPS KUOPIO (Finland)

League phase debutants KuPS Kuopio are based in the city Kuopio, up in the Finnish Lakeland. Founded back in 1923, they have a proud domestic history, and played in only the fifth season of the European Cup.

Seven-times champions of the Veikkausliiga (Finland's Premier Division), KuPS won the title last season, along with the domestic cup to make it a double.

They are in the Conference League after falling short in the Europa League play-off round to Danish side Midtjylland, who in turn had beaten Palace's play-off opponents Fredrikstad in the previous round.

This is actually the first time Kuopio have made it to the league phase of a UEFA competition and their game against Palace will be their first competitive meeting with an English club, although they did play and defeat Welsh side Llanelli in 2012.

They are nicknamed the Keltamusta (The Yellow-Black, based on their striking kit) and are managed by former Stockport and Hibs midfielder Jarkko Wiss.

RC Strasbourg (France)

Qualifying for the Conference League play-off round after finishing in seventh place in Ligue Un last season, Strasbourg reached the league phase after defeating Brondby IF 3-2 in a thrilling away leg.

Les Bleu et Blanc, aka the Blue and Whites, are one of six clubs to have won all three major French trophies – the league, Cup and League Cup.

The also have a minor UEFA trophy to their name, having won the 1995 Intertoto Cup during one of the club's more successful eras. A decade ago they were down in the third tier of French football, but won back-to-back league titles to return to the top-flight.

Strasbourg's la Meinau stadium hosted World Cup finals football back in 1938 and, slightly more recently, the men's national team back in 2021. It currently has a capacity of 26,000, although an ongoing renovation project will eventually increase the capacity to 32,300.

They are managed by a Londoner, Liam Rosenior, who played in the Premier League for Reading, Brighton and Hull City.

Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine)

Dynamo Kyiv are the reigning Ukrainian champions, and the only one of Palace's opponents to have already won major European trophies.

In 1974/75 Dynamo won the old UEFA Cup Winners' Cup back when the winners qualified for the UEFA Super Cup, which they duly won as well, dismantling the legendary Bayern Munich team of the early-1970s 3-0.

They won the Cup Winners' Cup again in 1986 and have a proud history on the continent.

Despite the emergence of Shakhtar Donetsk in recent years, they remain Ukraine's most successful club historically, winning 17 domestic titles and have the largest fanbase. Dynamo finished unbeaten across 30 league games in 2024/25 to claim the league championship.

Home is the magnificent Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, which holds 70,050 and hosted the 2018 Champions League Final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

However, due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Dynamo will play home European ties in Lublin, Poland at the Arena Lublin stadium for 2025/26.

AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)

Top seeds in the draw, AZ Alkmaar finished fifth in the Eredivisie last season and reached the Dutch Cup final, where they were beaten by Go Ahead Eagles on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

AZ were UEFA Cup regulars in the mid-2000s facing English sides such as Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Everton. They also previously reached the final of that tournament back in 1980/81, only to be defeated over two legs by Bobby Robson's Ipswich Town side.

Coincidentally, they have been eliminated by English sides from European competitions in each of the last three seasons (in the 22/23 Conference League semi-finals by West Ham; the 23/24 Conference League group stages by Aston Villa, whom they lost twice to; and, last season, defeats in both the Europa League league phase, and subsequently Round of 16, to Tottenham).

Currently AZ are managed by Maarten Martens. Their nickname, 'De Kaasboeren', translates as the cheese farmers, a nod to the town's historic and famous cheese market.

Former Tottenham player and Ireland international Troy Parrott is among their current squad.

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