
FA Cup Winning Captain Shares Inspirational Scripture in Post-match Speech
20th May 2025
On 17 May 2025, English top-flight football team, Crystal Palace made history by winning the English FA Cup - their first ever major trophy in their 160+ year history.
After beating favourites, Manchester City 1-0 in the iconic stadium of Wembley in London, The Eagles (their nickname) celebrated their victory by lifting the trophy.
This momentous event for the club was made even more special as it is the final season captain Joel Ward is going to be with Crystal Palace.
Earlier in the month, Ward announced that he was going to leave the club after this season, having spent 13 years with the club from the time they were not even in the English Premier League.
In those 13 years, the 35-year-old rose through the ranks becoming captain and played over 300 times for the club, the first ever players to do that for Crystal Palace.
So in his post-FA Cup Final match speech, the winning captain took some time to share his motivation and some inspiration with his teammates.
In his speech, he said, "Listen, guys, we're all on a journey. Some are at the start of it, some are at the end of it, some have been through it and been out the other side, but for from day one, something that I hold dearly is obviously my faith and in Jeremiah 29:11 it talks about how God has a plan and a purpose for our lives."
He continued by saying, "You may not believe, you may not look at scripture or you may not have that, but personally I believe that everyone here is here for a reason, and we do all have a plan and a purpose in our lives. It's crazy. I can't write this ending."
His short post-match speech has been viewed over 750,000 times on Instagram and has over 75,000 likes in just 24 hours.
Watch a snippet of it below: