Crystal Palace F.C.

The Exhibition Palace and FA Cup Final venue (1854–1905)

In 1854, the Crystal Palace exhibition building had been relocated from Hyde Park, London, and rebuilt in an area of South London next to Sydenham Hill. The surrounding area was renamed Crystal Palace and included the Crystal Palace Park, where various sports facilities were built. In 1857, the Crystal Palace Cricket Club was established here using the cricket ground inside the park. Its members later lobbied for a continuation of sporting activities during the winter months and set up an amateur Crystal Palace football team, who became founder members of the Football Association in 1863. They competed in the first FA Cup competition in 1871–72, reaching the semi-finals and played in the FA Cup over the next four seasons, but disappeared from historical records around December 1875. In 1895, the Football Association found a new permanent venue for the FA Cup final to be played at the sports stadium situated inside the exhibition building grounds. Some years later, the Crystal Palace Company who owned the Palace and its grounds and were reliant on tourist activity for their income, sought fresh attractions for the venue and decided to form a new professional football club to play at the stadium. The owners wanted a club to play there and tap into the vast crowd potential of the area.

Birth of the professional club and the Southern League (1905–1920)

The professional Crystal Palace Football Club was…

Domestic

League

Second Division / First Division / Championship (level 2) Champions: 1978–79, 1993–94 Runners-up: 1968–69 Play-off winners: 1989, 1997, 2004, 2013 Third Division / Third Division South (level 3) Champions: 1920–21 Runners-up: 1928–29, 1930–31, 1938–39, 1963–64 Fourth Division (level 4) Runners-up: 1960–61 Cup

FA Cup Winners: 2024–25 Runners-up: 1989–90, 2015–16 FA Community Shield Winners: 2025 Full Members' Cup Winners: 1990–91

European

UEFA Conference League Winners: 2025–26

Regional

Football League South Champions: 1940–41 South D League Champions: 1939–40 Southern Football League Division One Runners-up: 1913–14 Southern Football League Division Two Champions: 1905–06 United League Champions: 1906–07 Runners-up: 1905–06 Southern Professional Floodlit Cup Runners-up: 1958–59 London Challenge Cup Winners: 1912–13, 1913–14, 1920–21 Runners-up: 1919–20, 1921–22, 1922–23, 1931–32, 1937–38, 1946–47 Surrey Senior Cup Winners: 1996–97, 2000–01, 2001–02 London Five-a-Sides Winners: 1959, 1969 Runners-up: 1958, 1968, 1979 Kent Senior Shield Winners: 1911–12 Runners-up: 1912–13