Crystal Palace advanced to the UEFA Conference League group stage after a goalless draw at Fredrikstad secured a 1-0 aggregate victory. The result fell on manager Oliver Glasner's 51st birthday. Palace entered the competition following demotion from the Europa League due to multi-club ownership breaches and are on a joint club-record 13-game unbeaten run. The club has already won the FA Cup and the Community Shield this year. Glasner described qualifying for the group stage as a major achievement and said it met an early-season objective. The Conference League format gives smaller-country teams realistic chances at European success, keeping Palace in contention.
Crystal Palace got the job done - and now their fans can start to dream. A goalless draw at Fredrikstad gave them a 1-0 aggregate win in the Conference League play-off and a place in the league phase. On manager Oliver Glasner's 51st birthday too. Some time after 12:00 BST on Friday they will find out which six teams stand between them and a place in the knockout rounds.
"It is a huge achievement to go into the group stage," Glasner told Channel 5. "It was our second goal of the season and we have achieved that by the end of August which is great. "The first one was winning the Community Shield - which we did - and now, with all of the noise of being demoted to the Conference League, we have done that too."
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