Today, May 27, the winner of the third most prestigious European club trophy—the Conference League—will be determined, as London's Crystal Palace faces Madrid's Rayo Vallecano in the final. The match at the Leipzig Stadium will kick off at 22:00 Kyiv time. UNN reports on where to watch the match, what to know before the final, and who the bookmakers' favorite is.
Details
The final of the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League featuring Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano will take place in Germany at Leipzig's home ground, the Leipzig Stadium. The match will begin at 22:00.
Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano will meet for the first time. Both teams have reached their first UEFA club tournament final in only their second European campaign. Prior to this season, Palace's only European experience was participating in the now-defunct Intertoto Cup in 1998. Rayo had previously completed only one campaign in UEFA tournaments—the 2000/01 UEFA Cup, the predecessor to the Europa League, where they lost in the quarterfinals to Spain's Alavés.
Path to the final
In the group stage, Crystal finished in 10th place and advanced to the Round of 32. In the group, the Londoners notably defeated our compatriots—Dynamo Kyiv.
Dynamo started their Conference League campaign with a defeat against Crystal Palace02.10.25, 22:32
Rayo Vallecano, thanks to finishing 5th in the group stage, advanced directly to the Round of 16.
In the playoffs, the Londoners overcame Bosnia's Zrinjski, Cyprus's AEK, Italy's Fiorentina, and defeated Shakhtar Donetsk in the semifinals.
In the playoffs, Rayo Vallecano defeated Turkey's Samsunspor, Greece's AEK, and in the semifinals, France's Strasbourg.
Interestingly, Crystal Palace was not originally supposed to play in the Conference League. The fact is that in the 2024/2025 season, the "Eagles" finished 12th in the Premier League, but defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup final, which allowed the Londoners to qualify for the Europa League group stage.
Palace was moved to the Conference League because the club's owner also owns the French club Lyon, which also qualified for the Europa League.
Crystal Palace's place in the league phase of the tournament went to Nottingham Forest, which was the highest-placed team in the Premier League among clubs that failed to qualify for the Champions League or Europa League.
It is also worth noting that a week ago, another English club supported by Prince William—Birmingham's Aston Villa—beat Germany's Freiburg in the Europa League final.
Prince William emotionally celebrated his favorite team's victory in the UECL final21.05.26, 15:27
Where to watch, the favorite
The live broadcast is available for viewing on the MEGOGO OTT platform with an appropriate subscription.
Crystal Palace are the favorites to win in regulation time, with odds of 1.97. A draw is at 3.46, and a Rayo Vallecano win is at 4.27.
Bets on the final triumph of the English side in the tournament (including extra time and penalties) are accepted at odds of 1.48, while the Spaniards are at 2.72.
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