Zrinjski – Crystal Palace

The London club will begin the preliminary round of the playoffs with a win.

To fully grasp the level of Zrinjski Mostar and, more broadly, understand the role of Bosnian football in Europe, one should analyze the results of the reigning champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina in European cups. Zrinjski first appeared in continental tournaments exactly twenty years ago. In that period the Bosnian club has started its journey in the qualifiers of European competitions sixteen times. In fourteen cases Zrinjski failed to overcome the qualifying round, no matter which competition it tried to break into the main draw. The first time they managed to exit the qualifiers into the group stage was in the 2023/2024 season, but they could not go further. The upcoming match against Crystal Palace will be Zrinjski's first playoff match in the history of its participation in continental tournaments. Even so, the team will have to start in the qualifying round. The transfer value of the entire Zrinjski squad, according to the specialist online resource Transfermarkt, is 7.9 million euros, and the most expensive player has a price tag of 700 thousand euros. For comparison, Crystal Palace's much-weakened squad is almost 70 times more expensive, and the highest transfer values in Crystal Palace's 28-man squad are held by 20 of its players. Crystal Palace began the season as winner of the FA Cup and the Community Shield. Moreover, the first weeks in the Premier League showed that the Glaziers were ready to compete for a place in the Champions League zone. However, since then in just two transfer windows the London club has sold off almost all of its leaders, which caused protests among fans and confusion from the team's head coach Oliver Glasner. It seems the Austrian will see out the season with the Glaziers, but in the Premier League Palace is no longer contesting anything serious. So why shouldn't Glasner and the players who remained after the sales realize their ambitions in European competitions? Especially given how frequently the London club makes it into them. More precisely, its absence... Crystal Palace played the group stage at full strength, but the playoffs will begin with a confident win and they will put in a decent showing.