Crystal Palace fans may still be reeling from a ridiculous afternoon of officiating at Old Trafford last time out, but there is a UEFA Conference League round of 16 clash to look forward to.
Oliver Glasner still has a chance of bringing a third trophy to Selhurst Park as a round of 16 tie against Larnaca beckons, the side from Cyprus who recorded a 1-0 win in SE25 during the league phase.
Before the first of that two-legged tie commences on Thursday 12th March at Selhurst Park, the victory over Zrinjski Mostar has landed Crystal Palace a welcome chunk of prize money.
Crystal Palace bank £674,135 after progressing in Europe
Reaching the last 16 of the UEFA Conference League has seen UEFA hand the Eagles a sum of £674,135.
It comes at a welcome time for Steve Parish – considering the Football Association (FA) fined Crystal Palace £50,000 at the end of February for ‘failing to ensure supporters did not behave in an improper manner’ when displaying a banner of Evangelos Marinakis earlier this season.
Knocking Larnaca out would be almost twice as lucrative for Crystal Palace, with a sum of £1.1m up for grabs.
- Winner: €7m (£5.90m)
- Runner-up: €4m (£3.37m)
- Semi-finalists: €2.5m (£2.11m)
- Quarter-finalists: €1.3m (£1.10m)
- Round of 16: €800,000 (£674,135)
- Reaching knockout round play-off: €200,000 (£168,533)
- League-phase wins: €400,000 (£337,067)
- League-phase draws: €133,000 (£112,075)
In this era of modern football, that £674,135 payment is not the largest amount of cash. It is not even enough to cover the club’s wage bill for a week, which Capology believe is £1,469,400.
Nevertheless, when you consider we were on the brink of liquidation just over 15 years ago, it feels quite surreal to hear Crystal Palace – who wanted Ruben Kluivert in January – are now receiving over half a million pounds in prize money from UEFA.
High chance Larnaca vs Crystal Palace is moved
You may have seen that a number of flights to Larnaca have already been cancelled after a drone strike near RAF Akrotiri.
It is by no means the most important factor in the matter, but it is hard to see how the second leg of our round of 16 clash can continue to go ahead in Cyprus.
Respected journalist Bobbi Manzi has posted that UEFA are “closely monitoring” the situation as things stand and are in contact with Crystal Palace.
They wrote: “Understand UEFA are closely monitoring the uncertainty in the Middle East. Following the drones intercepted heading towards an RAF military base in Cyprus, UEFA are in touch with Crystal Palace, AEK Larnaca and local authorities where necessary.”
So, if you had plans to attend the second leg of the UEFA Conference League round of 16 tie, be sure to keep an eye on the situation.
