Oliver Glasner interview: The Crystal Palace coach on facing Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final in Leipzig
Monday, May 25, 2026
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"When you play a final, you want to win it," Crystal Palace's outgoing coach Oliver Glasner tells UEFA as his side prepare to meet Rayo Vallecano in the UEFA Conference League final.
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Oliver Glasner announced in January that this would be his last campaign as Crystal Palace coach, and the Austrian is hoping to leave on the biggest high yet as his side meet Rayo Vallecano in the UEFA Conference League final.
The former Ried defender led another set of Eagles, Eintracht Frankfurt, to glory in the 2021/22 UEFA Europa League, and he has brought soaraway success to Palace too. Last season, the 51-year-old steered the south London club to their first-ever FA Cup title, beating Manchester City in the final. This season, in only their second European campaign, they are preparing to contest their maiden continental final.
On taking Palace to a European final
It's a huge achievement for all of us. We're playing this competition for the first time. Many of our players haven't played European football before, and we needed all these games, all these experiences to progress and develop. Now we're all looking forward to the final, and also playing – it will be the 17th game of the Conference League and our 60th game this season. It's massive.
[It has involved] a lot of travelling, many different countries, different styles of football, different challenges. When we started this competition, [getting into the final] was always the goal and now we've achieved it. But now it's not just playing a final. When you play a final, you want to win it. Definitely.
On honey and avocado
If you [have] never had honey, you don't know how it tastes and so you're not asking for it. But as soon as you've tasted the sweetness of honey, you want it again and again. And, of course, avocado is also nice and is healthy and nice to have, but let's say this little extra is maybe honey or sweets. Playing European football is maybe this little extra.
Let's say the avocado, the daily business, is [the] Premier League, and this is very important – playing a good campaign in the Premier League – but then having the sweetness of European football at Selhurst, having the sweetness of travelling across Europe supporting your team, and of course having then the sweetness of playing another final. When you have tasted it, you want it again and again and again. And fortunately, we could deliver again. Is there honey and avocado in the canteen for the players? Yes. Both.
On his Europa League final success with Frankfurt
Every experience helps you in future situations: the decisions you have to take. And it's not just a European final – it's the [2025] FA Cup final and this experience we had all together. It was best not to change a lot, to stick to our principles, to play our way, to trust in what we are doing.
And this was the experience I had when we won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt. This was the same experience when we won the FA Cup, and so this will be how we'll approach the Conference League final – trusting in what we are doing, and [we will] try to do it at our best level.
On Rayo Vallecano
I said it before the semi-final: all four teams who play the semi-finals deserve to play the final because they have done so well in the competition, and Vallecano are the same. And they won twice against Strasbourg, and we played Strasbourg in the [league phase], where we lost 2-1, so we know how difficult it is to win against them.
That means they have a lot of quality. It's playing, of course, [a] Spanish [team]. I spoke to our players who've played in Spain. They said [Rayo are] very quick, playing [in] transition, with quick wingers, always able to score goals. They don't concede many.
On his imminent departure from Palace
I would feel I'd completely failed if the team had dropped off [after I announced my departure] because I'd always told them: "You don't need to play for a manager." It's always playing for themselves, it's playing for the group, playing for the fans, playing for the club you are in. If we win the Conference League, all the players who stay here at the club, the fans, they [will] have the benefit, because they'll play European football again next year. So, everything they do [is] for themselves too, for the club, for the fans, and not for me.
[Winning this final] would be a perfect ending. When you watch a movie, when you read a book, you always hope that there is a happy ending. To end this more than two-year journey with another trophy, with the first European trophy in Crystal Palace's history, that would be incredible.
This interview was conducted on 11 May 2026
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