Oliver Glasner and Daichi Kamada were at Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence earlier this evening, previewing the second leg of Crystal Palace's UEFA Conference League quarter-final against Fiorentina – catch up on our live updates below!

As It Happened: Glasner & Kamada's pre-Fiorentina press conference

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Last May, it was announced that [Crystal Palace Women would be competing in the newly-named Women's Super League 2.](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/announcement/palace-women-to-compete-in-newly-named-wsl2-from-2025-26/)

Along with a new name - the WSL2 has a new structure for this season. 

In previous years, only the top team would earn promotion to the WSL,  this was how Palace earned WSL promotion in the 2023/24 season.

However, for this season only, up to three teams can go up - making this a totally unique campaign for Jo Potter's side.

#### **Who gets promoted to the WSL this season?**

- Like previous years, the first-place side will earn automatic promotion to the WSL.
- The second-place team will also earn automatic promotion to the topflight.
- The third-place team will contest a playoff game against the bottom side in the WSL, with the winner taking the last spot in the topflight.

The 2025/26 format is unique to this campaign, as from the 2026/27 season onwards - the second-place team will contest the playoff against the 13th-place WSL side.

This means the WSL will have 14 teams instead of 12 from the 2026/27 season.

#### **What do Palace need to do?**

Following the recent 1-0 win over Ipswich Town, Palace Women are now in third-place with 38 points - the promotion playoff position.

Birmingham now sit in first-place, six points ahead of Palace on 41 points.

Second-place Charlton Athletic are also on 41 points, but have a significantly worse goal difference than the Blues.

Fourth-place Newcastle United find themselves on 33 points, and must win both of their remaining games to have a chance at making the playoff.

**If Palace win one of their two remaining games**, they will guarantee a promotion playoff spot as a minimum.

**To catch Birmingham**, Palace will need to win both games, and hope the Blues earn no more than two points from their remaining two games.

**To catch Charlton**, Palace will need to win all three games, and hope the Addicks fail to win both of their two remaining games.

It's all set to be a dramatic final day - as Palace host 12th-place Portsmouth, whilst Charlton take on Birmingham at home.

Check out our remaining fixtures below:

- **Sunday, 26th April - Sunderland Women v Crystal Palace Women (KO: 14:00 BST)**
- **Saturday, 2nd May - Crystal Palace Women v Portsmouth Women (KO: 15:00 BST)**

**Tickets are available for that huge home clash at the VBS Community Stadium - click below to buy your tickets!**

Buy Palace v Portsmouth tickets!

Two games separate Crystal Palace Women from a potential spot in the Women's Super League. Read below to see what Palace need in order to secure an immediate return to the topflight...

The Run-In: What do Palace need to get promoted?

Crystal Palace Women v Portsmouth Women (2026-05-02)

Sunderland Women v Crystal Palace Women (2026-04-26)

Ipswich Town Women

Women's Super League 2

Crystal Palace Women

Sunderland Women

Crystal Palace FC's first-ever major European adventure is underway, as we battle to win the UEFA Conference League. Find out how you can join us on our journey.

European Tour

## From Academy to Premier League

> Having joined the Palace Academy from Brentford in 2016, Tyrick Mitchell rose to prominence rapidly at Palace and set the record for the youngest-ever player to make 200 Premier League appearances for the club.

Mitchell was a regular in both of Palace's Under-18 and Under-23 Professional Development League South winning teams in 2017/18 as he spent a second campaign featuring at both levels.

A recruit from Brentford at the end of the 2015/16 season, Mitchell, an attacking left-back with bundles of pace, impressed sufficiently for the Academy side to be handed a chance with the Development team in 2016. He used that experience to his advantage in 17/18 as he helped his two teams to silverware.

In 2018/19, Mitchell was a regular fixture in Richard Shaw's U23s team and joined the first-team on their pre-season tour in the summer of 2019.

After returning from an injury sustained while on tour, Mitchell made several first-team squads and earned his Premier League debut against Leicester City in July 2020. He went on to secure his first Premier League start by playing the full 90 minutes against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

In April 2021, he signed a contract extension through til the end of 2024/25. Mitchell then followed this up with his first goal and assist for the Eagles, as helped the side to a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa in May 2021.

His performances throughout 21/22 saw him earn a senior England call-up for the first time in March 2022, making his debut in a 2-1 win over Switzerland.

Mitchell was nearly ever-present in 2022/23, featuring for Palace in 38 out of a possible 41 games in all competitions. He made his 100th appearance in red and blue against Tottenham Hotspur towards the end of the campaign and was also awarded the PFA Community Champion Award for his support for the Palace for Life Foundation.

He was again so close to being ever-present in 2023/24, this time only missing a single game through injury. Nevertheless, he continued to make the left-back position his own, and even stepping further forward as a left wing-back under new manager Oliver Glasner. Mitchell concldued the campaign with his best attacking returns, with two goals and three assists.

In 2024/25, Mitchell was one of the first names on the teamsheet - featuring in 37 out of a possible 38 league games. He kept 11 clean sheets in the league, assisting five times. 

He also kept four clean sheets in the games he featured in as Palace lifted the FA Cup.

November 2021, December 2023

Crystal Palace Player of the Month

Crystal Palace, 2021/22

Young Player of the Season

Crystal Palace, 2022/23

PFA Community Champion

Mitchell

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Tyrick reflects on his 200th Premier League appearance

Best of Tyrick Mitchell | Newcastle (H)

Match Action: Crystal Palace 3-0 Fiorentina

Doc Brown meets Tyrick Mitchell

CCTV | The Team prepare for Shelbourne

Net88's November Player of the Month: Tyrick Mitchell

Best of Tyrick Mitchell | Fulham (A)

Match Highlights | RC Strasbourg 2-1 Crystal Palace

Mitchell previews Wolves 

Access All Over | Crystal Palace v Brighton

The best of Tyrick Mitchell | Brighton (H)

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Tyrick on hard-fought draw

From South London to Europe | This Is Our Night

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Games

Get ready for Europe!

The word ‘competitively’, however, is open to interpretation here – with our apologies to those fans attending the 1930 Kettering Hospital Cup, and also those who witnessed our last meeting with Fiorentina in 1990. 

On that occasion, it was the Memorial Pier Cesare Baretti tournament which saw the Eagles face *La Viola* – a three-club competition held in St. Vincent, in Northern Italy, just days before the Division One season began in August 1990.

The other clubs involved were Fiorentina and Sampdoria, and it was the former we faced first – a 1-2 defeat. Palace’s team included new signings Glyn Hodges and Eric Young, with Gary O’Reilly opening the scoring with a header in the 19th minute – only for *La Viola* to equalise with a penalty and eventually turn the game around.

Counting that as a pre-season competition, then, it is to 1973 we cast our gaze – a 2-2 draw between Fiorentina and Palace in the fourth edition of the Anglo-Italian Cup.

The 1973 format – rather different to that of the 1971 edition [previously covered on this website](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/features/crystal-palace-inter-milan-san-siro-anglo-italian-cup-1971/) – saw the ‘points-for-goals’ rule abandoned, and the Eagles instead facing four different Italian sides while competing for qualification against three other English teams.

A 4-1 win against Verona at Selhurst Park in February 1973 was followed by a 1-0 away win in Bari in March, shortly before Malcolm Allison took the reins at Selhurst Park. 

Four days after his appointment, a 3-1 win at home to Lazio – John Craven grabbing a hat-trick – left Palace in need of a point in Florence to qualify for the semi-finals.

The game arrived on **2nd May 1973** – mere days after Palace suffered relegation from Division One – but, as one eyewitness told us, proved quite the occasion for all involved...

### The inside story

Hailing from just south of Rome, **David Cianfarani** – a long-time Season Ticket Holder at Selhurst Park – grew up serving Italian ice cream not far from the ground in Norwood, his great-grandfather having founded the Marcantonio brand so popular across South London.

A member at Selhurst Park’s Glaziers Club – often frequented by fans, players and staff alike – David got to know players including Peter Wall and Mel Blyth, among others.

In those days, the only travel was by coach, and that was a pretty long effort!

David Cianfarani (centre) with his grandson (left) and his son Luke (right)

And so, two weeks before Palace were due to visit Fiorentina, the players – aware of David’s fluent Italian – nominated the then-33-year-old as both the team’s interpreter and, even more importantly – with 13,000 or so fans attending the game – dedicated announcer! 

“It was absolutely amazing!” David recalls, 56 years later. “I didn't expect to be selected to go, but I dropped everything and went!

“My job was to check the players in and look after their orders at mealtimes.

"The players were all very friendly to me, and I got all their autographs while I was there."

Palace's signatures from 1973

The players' room allocations

And David had another vital role to fulfil...

"Very importantly, I also did the stadium announcements. That was quite daunting!

“There were very few travelling fans. It was really before away games started coming into fashion. In those days, the only travel was by coach, and that was a pretty long effort.

“But I really enjoyed it. It was a good game, too. I remember it being 2-2, and it was Derek Possee, who was a very small player, who got our two goals.”

He was a larger-than-life character, so it rather suited him going to those kind of places

The point saw Palace top their group and progress to the semi-finals, where they were eliminated by Newcastle over two legs, but the memories of that trip to Florence abound for David. 

He smiles: “Malcolm Allison was the manager, and he was very flamboyant. He had this big fedora hat – people loved that over there!

“The thing about Malcolm was he had his way of doing things. 

"He was a larger-than-life character, so it rather suited him going to those kind of places, where he could smoke a cigar and wear dark glasses!”

And for the players? “The hotel was not the sort that footballers would be put in today! They were kind of motorway hotels, which in those days weren't very good. The players roomed in pairs – it was quite austere accommodation.

“Of course, in those days, players could eat and drink what they want, when they wanted to – so they had spaghetti every day! They just piled it on with meat and bolognese sauce. 

"Allison would always have a bottle of wine around! But everyone behaved very well.”

Last week's visit of Fiorentina to Selhurst Park saw a large number of Italian media attend the game – a trip to the Premier League's Palace a great occasion for both home and away team alike.

David recalls how that mirrored 1973: "Fiorentina, before the game, were at their hotel, and there was no press or anything like that until the time came.

"Whereas when Palace attended, it did create a lot of press interest, a game like that, as you can imagine."

How about Florence itself? 

“It’s an absolutely beautiful city,” David recalls. "I had been before.

“There’s a fantastic cathedral there, statues, a beautiful river, and a very old bridge called the Ponte Vecchio. We did a little bit of touring as a group, but not a great deal.

“We flew out and came back, as one does, fairly quickly – but it was a great experience for me, and a great one for Palace.

“Very few of the Palace players had been abroad. In those days, players didn't travel like they do now – so the competition was a real chance for people to see new places, and Palace did very creditably all the way through.”

**With thanks to David and Luke Cianfarani; and Ian King, Tony Bowden and Robert Salter for their research.**

### **Match Details**

**Fiorentina v Crystal Palace**

- Thursday, 16th April
- 20:00 BST
- UEFA Conference League quarter-final, second leg
- Artemio Franchi Stadium
- [Live audio commentary on Palace TV+](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/supporters/palace-tv-plus/)

This fortnight's pair of meetings with Fiorentina see La Viola join a select band of clubs that Crystal Palace have faced on exactly three occasions competitively – Accrington Stanley, Kettering Town, Yeovil Town and, of course, AEK Larnaca this season.

An insider's account of Palace's last trip to Florence – 53 years on!

With Palace leading 3-0 from last week, the second leg will kick-off at **21:00 CET local time (20:00 BST)** on Thursday at the **Artemio Franchi Stadium** in Florence.

Ahead of Thursday, supporters can find important information surrounding the trip below.

### Ticketing information

**Tickets are being issued to each individual ticket holder via PDF print at home ticket**. All emails will be sent direct from Fiorentina from the address [no_reply@vivaticket.com](mailto:no_reply@vivaticket.com)

Please remember to check your spam/junk folders (or promotional email folder if on Gmail) before calling the box office.

If you have you haven’t received your ticket by 09:00 on Thursday, please contact the box office as soon as possible. 

Each ticket will include – **as listed on each supporter’s passport** – the purchaser’s name, date of birth, passport country of issue, and gender. All of these details are required by Italian law in order to obtain a ticket.

Please note that supporters can scan tickets on their phones by displaying the QR/barcode. There is no requirement to print out your tickets.

### Where to go on matchday…

On matchday, Palace supporters are expected to meet at **Giardini** **Piazza della Indipendenza** in central Florence.

**Local authorities have organised coaches** to take supporters from this point to the Artemio Franchi Stadium.  The first service will depart between **18:00** and **18:30** local time, depending on demand.

From then on, there will be regular shuttles from **Piazza della Indipendenza** to the ground. Please note that availability for this service is limited, and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

**If supporters choose to walk** to the Artemio Franchi Stadium, please note that this will take around 45 minutes from Piazza della Indipendenza.

### Mandatory passport checks

**All supporters will be required to take their passports to the stadium.**

**There will be strict stadium perimeter ticket checks**, where all supporters will be required to show the passport which matches the details on their ticket.

Supporters who do not have their own passports at the ticket checkpoint will be refused entry to the stadium perimeter. 

If the supporter’s passport does not match the details on their ticket, they will be refused entry to the stadium perimeter.

Palace staff will be on hand at the check point to help with any potential issues.

### Approaching the stadium

**Palace supporters must approach through** **Viale** **Pasquale Paoli** on the south-eastern side of the stadium, where there will be a ticketing and passport checkpoint.

Coaches will drop supporters off at the car park for the Mandela Forum (Parcheggio Mandela Forum), just before this checkpoint.

**Fans are advised to avoid the surroundings** of the North Stand (Curvia Fiesole) and South Stand (Curva Ferrovia) – in particular **Viale Manfredo Fanti, Via Frusa, Vale del Mille** and **Viale Malta** – **before and after the game.** 

### After the match

Following the full-time whistle, **supporters in the away end will be held back** for a short period of time (approximately 30 minutes) to allow home crowds to disperse. We thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation.

**Coaches will then collect Palace supporters from Parcheggio Mandela Forum** and return them to Piazza della Indipendenza.

### Stadium regulations

**[A list of stadium regulations can be found here](https://media-cdn.cortextech.io/6tC8rLfgRb1/1BSdBWIjCe7Pme/430fbf91-5845-432f-95ca-ddcc684a9aed.pdf)**, **which includes a list of prohibited items**.

**[An additional code of conduct can be found here](https://media-cdn.cortextech.io/6tC8rLfgRb1/1BSdBWIjCe7Pme/50ceb465-de10-45f8-93d0-ec6d865b43f7.pdf).**

### Attendance

**Tickets are strictly non-transferrable.** Anyone found transferring tickets without the club’s consent will be banned from purchasing for future European fixtures.

**Any supporter not using their ticket for this fixture may be blocked from purchasing future away tickets for European fixtures.** All ticket entries will be checked after the fixture has been played.

We understand that circumstances can change after you have purchased a ticket; in this instance, please contact the Box Office as soon as possible.

**Please note that Personal Assistant tickets are only valid when the disabled supporter also attends.** Any Personal Assistant attending without accompanying a disabled supporter will automatically be banned from purchasing future away tickets for the remainder of the season.

### Palace for All

Crystal Palace would like to remind supporters that all acts of discrimination, including inappropriate chanting, are **criminal offences** which can result in **criminal convictions and banning orders**.

As a club, we are clear that everyone is welcome at Palace. **We will not tolerate racial or homophobic chants or discriminating comments** towards a particular individual, or group of individuals.

Strong measures remain in place to tackle antisocial and criminal behaviours at matches, including throwing objects, drug use and discriminatory behaviour.

If you witness any such behaviour, please report it to the club by emailing **[customer.service@cpfc.co.uk](mailto:customer.service@cpfc.co.uk)** and **[inclusion@cpfc.co.uk](mailto:inclusion@cpfc.co.uk)** with details.

**We all have a role to play in keeping each other safe on matchdays – so please be mindful of your fellow fans.**

### In case of any queries...

In case of any queries whilst in Italy, our Head of Supporter Services and Disability Access Officer, Nikki, can be contacted at this dedicated phone number: 07345 703 244.

### Advice from the British Consulate General Milan

The official CDO travel [advice for travelling to Italy can be found here](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy).

Supporters who have lost or had their passports stolen and require an Emergency Travel Document **[can apply here.](https://www.gov.uk/travel-urgently-from-abroad-without-uk-passport)**

**More [information about the British Consulate General in Milan can be found here](https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-consulate-general-milan#our-services).**

### Time to spare in Florence?

The stadium is around a 45-minute walk from the historic city centre of Florence – the capital of Tuscany – which is a UNESCO World Heritage site renowned as the cradle of the Renaissance.

A beautiful city renowned for its art, architecture and history, the city offers a compact, walkable centre, rich in fashion and Tuscan cuisine.

A breathtaking city cathedral, **Basilica di** **Santa Maria del Fiore**, lies at its core – entrance is free, but paid admission is required for other areas, including the climb to the dome (Duomo Museum) – and is surrounded by **Piazza del Duomo** where local artists sell their work.

A must-see in the centre, the **Uffizi Gallery** is one of the world’s most influential art museums, featuring masterpieces from the likes of Botticelli, Da Vinci, Raphael and – of course – Michelangelo.

Not far away, the **Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze** is best known as the home of the Michelangelo sculpture *David*.

The historic medieval bridge over the River Arno, **Ponte Vecchio**, is famous for its spectacular vistas at sunset, whilst the vibrant **Mercato Centrale** offer vibrant food markets renowned for fresh produce, pasta and local snacks.

**[Click here for the official tourism website](https://www.feelflorence.it/en) of the Municipality and Metropolitan City of Florence.**

But wherever you go, you won’t be short of options both pre and post-match in this incredible city!

### Match Details

**Fiorentina v Crystal Palace**

- Thursday, 16th April
- 21:00 CET local time / 20:00 BST UK time
- UEFA Conference League quarter-final, second leg
- Artemio Franchi Stadium
- [Live audio commentary on Palace TV+](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/supporters/palace-tv-plus/)

Crystal Palace travel to Fiorentina this week for the second leg of their UEFA Conference League quarter-final, looking to secure a place in a major European semi-final.

First-team

First-team

As It Happened: Glasner & Kamada's pre-Fiorentina press conference

An insider's account of Palace's last trip to Florence – 53 years on!

Palace on Tour: Important information for fans going to Florence

Get ready for Europe!

3Tyrick
Mitchell

First-team

First-team

As It Happened: Glasner & Kamada's pre-Fiorentina press conference

An insider's account of Palace's last trip to Florence – 53 years on!

Palace on Tour: Important information for fans going to Florence

Get ready for Europe!

3TyrickMitchell

3Tyrick
Mitchell