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Crystal Palace Under-21s have been crowned champions of the 2023/24 Premier League International Cup.
The Young Eagles defeated Jong PSV 1-0 in front of over 2,000 supporters at Selhurst Park on Wednesday, May 15 evening to lift the European trophy for the first time in the club’s history, and garner a measure of revenge for the defeat in the same fixture last year.
Franco Umeh’s deflected effort midway through the second-half settled a tight game in which captain Joe Whitworth pulled off a number of stunning saves, and the Eagles defended stoutly to a man.
The result sees Crystal Palace lift the Premier League International Cup – a competition formed in 2014/15 to test the country’s best Academies against those on the continent – in just their second season in the tournament, having reached the Final in their first.
Along the way, Crystal Palace have gone unbeaten in all seven matches, scoring 15 goals along the way and conceding just six, seeing off the likes of Athletic Club, Benfica, Feyenoord, AS Monaco, Wolves, Everton and – finally – PSV.
Palace now join previous winners PSV Eindhoven (22/23), Bayern Munich (18/19), FC Porto (16/17 and 17/18), CF Villarreal (15/16) and Manchester City (14/15) in having raised the trophy, with this season being the second iteration since the global pandemic.
The silverware crowns an already-successful season for Crystal Palace’s U-21s, who secured a ninth-place finish – out of 26 competing teams – in the regular Premier League 2 season.
