Crystal Palace winning the Conference League has created a unique situation for eight English clubs.

Crystal Palace winning the Conference League has created a unique situation for eight English clubs.

Crystal Palace’s 1-0 win over Spanish team Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final is great news for many English clubs—but it also brings some challenges.

On Thursday night, Palace’s star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the only goal in Leipzig, giving the Eagles the UEFA Conference League title. This win means Palace has qualified for next season’s Europa League, so now nine different Premier League teams will compete in European tournaments in 2026/27.

These teams include Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, and Liverpool, who will play in the Champions League. Bournemouth, Sunderland, and Crystal Palace will join them in the Europa League, while Brighton and Hove Albion will play in the Conference League.

While this is exciting for those nine clubs, it causes a bit of a headache for eight other English clubs lower down the leagues. Because of a Carabao Cup rule, Premier League teams playing in Europe get to skip the early rounds of the cup, which means more lower-league teams have to play extra matches to keep everything balanced.

The clubs affected by this are Crawley, Rochdale, Tranmere, York, Barnet, Newport, Accrington, and Oldham.

Here’s where it gets tricky: the preliminary round draw usually happens at the same time as round one, with games played a week earlier. But this time, the timing might not work because the first round of the Carabao Cup is split regionally between north and south teams.

Last year, it was easier to split the teams—two played in the south and two in the north. But now, with these eight clubs, there’s no clear north-south split. For example, Tranmere, the most southern northern team, might have to travel over 250 miles to play Crawley, the northernmost southern team, which would be a huge trip.

So, while Palace’s win brings excitement and more European football for Premier League clubs, it also means some tricky scheduling and tough travel for lower-league teams next season.