Crystal Palace tickets at Selhurst Park

Selhurst Park is south London football with nothing smoothed off: a tight ground built in 1924, and behind one goal the first ultras section English football ever had.

Crystal Palace play in South Norwood, 25,486 seats, Premier League. If you already know London and want the version of English football that is not staged for visitors, this is the ground to pick.

The first major trophy in 164 years

On 17 May 2025 Crystal Palace won the FA Cup at Wembley, beating Manchester City 1–0. Eberechi Eze scored from a counter-attack in the first half, goalkeeper Dean Henderson saved a penalty, and Palace defended the lead for the rest of the match against the wealthiest club in the country.

It was the club's first major trophy in 164 years. Palace had reached two FA Cup finals before and lost both to Manchester United: 3–3 after extra time in 1990 and 0–1 in the replay, then 1–2 after extra time in 2016 under the same manager, Alan Pardew. Go to Selhurst Park now and you are visiting a club that has not yet put that win down.

The Holmesdale Fanatics — England's first ultras end

Behind one goal is the Holmesdale Road Stand, and inside it, since 2005, the Holmesdale Fanatics. They are widely recognised as the first ultras group in English football: flags, tifos and a wall of singing that belongs more to Italy or Spain than to the Premier League. For the FA Cup final display they raised more than £45,000 among their own supporters.

Add "Glad All Over", the Dave Clark Five hit from 1963 that became the club song and takes the whole ground with it. Small stadium, steep stands, an organised end — that combination is the reason to make the trip. Here the crowd is the attraction, not the team sheet.

Selhurst Park: Ted Lasso, and a ground shared

The ground opened in 1924 and has been left largely as it was. If you know the series Ted Lasso: Selhurst Park stood in as the home of the fictional AFC Richmond.

Palace are also one of the few English clubs with a long spell of ground sharing behind them. Between 1986 and 1991 two clubs played their home games here — the Eagles and the Addicks of neighbouring Charlton Athletic — until Charlton returned to The Valley.

Eric Cantona's kung-fu kick

In January 1995 Selhurst Park produced the moment every Premier League supporter still knows. Sent off, Eric Cantona of Manchester United launched himself feet-first into the crowd after being abused by a spectator. He was banned for eight months and escaped a prison sentence only on appeal. It is not a proud story, but it belongs to this ground as much as the Holmesdale end does.

Palace's own players have rarely been global stars and often been reliable professionals: Kenny Sansom, Nigel Martyn, Chris Coleman, and more recently Wilfried Zaha, who came through the academy here. There is none of the gloss of Chelsea — instead, in the back streets of South Norwood, the pulse of the English game.

Where the name comes from

The club is named after the Crystal Palace, the glass exhibition hall built for the Great Exhibition of 1851. In 1854 it was moved to Sydenham, where it gave the district its name, and in 1936 it burned to the ground. The name stayed.

Tickets and travel

Take the ticket on its own or the ticket and hotel package. Getting there is easier than the south London postcode suggests: trains run every fifteen minutes from London Bridge, Victoria and Clapham Junction, and Selhurst, Thornton Heath and Norwood Junction stations are all a short walk away. The pubs around Thornton Heath are where the matchday starts.

Selhurst Park is one of the smallest grounds in the division and demand has risen since the cup win, so plan early. London is straightforward from every direction: Eurostar to St Pancras from the Netherlands and Belgium, direct flights from Scandinavia, rail or a short hop from Britain and Ireland. The London fixtures against Fulham, West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur sell out first.