Crystal Palace’s first European fixture for 27 years will be shown live on free-to-air television, The i Paper understands.

Palace, who last played in Europe as part of the Intertoto Cup in 1998, will face Fredrikstad in the first leg of a Conference League qualifier on Thursday 21 August, kicking off at 8pm live on 5.

The channel is understood to have picked up the rights to show the match, which is not part of TNT’s wider Uefa rights package, for what industry sources say is a “low six-figure sum”.

And Palace’s away leg, due to be played at 5pm on 28 August, will also be shown on 5.

The i Paper reported earlier this month that 5 will show weekly NFL games in Sunday’s primetime slot throughout the upcoming season , and this appears to be a continuation of this opportunistic appro

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