From making FA Cup history to becoming a ‘monster’ - How Crystal Palace's Chris Richards won U.S. Soccer’s Male Player of the Year

Unless you are a Palace fan, there's really no way to explain what the FA Cup meant. Generations had gone without seeing their club lift a single piece of meaningful silverware. That all changed at Wembley in May.

"People keep asking me what the best part of winning the cup was," Richards told GOAL this summer. "I think it was what it meant to the generations of Palace fans. I love winning trophies - who doesn't? But I was looking into the crowd and seeing 80-year-old men crying their eyes out because even their parents hadn't seen Palace win a major trophy. That's what meant so much more.

He added, "Maybe you're at City or Liverpool, and this stuff goes under the radar. Not at Palace. When you do something for the first time, and in the way we did it? It was perfect."

Richards was a rock on that day. After Palace took the lead early, 16 minutes in on an Eberechi Eze goal, Richards and the defense stood strong against the almighty Manchester City attack, one led by Erling Haaland. They never folded, leading to those happy tears from Palace fans that Richards alluded to.

There were more tears a few months later when they won the Community Shield, pulling off a similar win over Premier League champions Liverpool. Both were massive achievements for Palace but also for Richards, who showed what he can do in cup finals against two of the best teams in the world. In the end, Richards was the only Palace player to be on the field for every minute of their FA Cup run.

Just weeks after that FA Cup triumph, Richards was back in USMNT camp for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Many of the team's more famous faces - including Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah - were missing. Richards was there, though, and he made one hell of an impact.

Richards started all six games during this summer's tournament, scoring two goals during the USMNT's run. The first was a game-winner, leading the U.S. to three points and a group stage win in a tense game against Saudi Arabia. The other came in the final, giving the U.S. the lead against Mexico, although, ultimately, it would be El Tri that came away victorious in the end. It was a bitter end to what was a fantastic tournament for Richards, who was ultimately named to CONCACAF's Best XI.

"I think everyone grieves differently, but I think some people - and I know myself personally it hurt - but maybe it's something that needed to happen," Richards said after the loss. "You take it on the chin, and you keep pushing forward. And I promise you we won't lose anymore finals against Mexico. I threw my medal away. There's no point in having a silver medal. I think, as a nation, we strive for greatness. And I think, as individuals, we do, too. So, going forward, that's what we're going to do."

Early on in the 2024-25 season, Crystal Palace assistant Paddy McCarthy sat Richards down. McCarthy was, by and large, a Championship-quality player during his own career. Richards was playing in the Premier League and is much better than McCarthy ever was, but the coach believed his defender needed a significant push.

"He asked me, 'What do you want to do?'" Richards recalls. "He was like, 'Do you want to captain your country? Do you want to play in the World Cup or do you just want to be a guy on a roster?' No, I want more. But he said that I need to prove it. He fully believed in me. 'Do you just want to be a guy that plays every few games, or do you want to be a captain?' I want to be captain, and he said, 'Well, show me'.

"It hurt, but it was something I had to learn. I'm glad I had that conversation because I don't think I'd be where I'm at now if we didn't. I don't know where I'd be right now."

Richards clearly took that to heart. Alongside Maxence Lacroix and Marc Guehi, he formed a top-level back three, one that pushed Palace to new heights. He played 24 Premier League games, really coming into his own after reclaiming a starting place to start 2025. Prior to 2025, Richards was a center back in the Premier League. By the end, he was quite clearly a Premier League-quality center back.

The Gold Cup was quite obviously the highlight of Richards' run, it's not all he accomplished with the Stars and Stripes this season.

After returning to the team in the fall, Richards quickly resumed his place as the USMNT's rock. He started the 2-0 win over Japan, the 1-1 draw with Ecuador and the 2-1 win over Australia, helping kickstart the team's fall run that really ended 2025 on a high. The one game he didn't start was the loss to South Korea, which means that the U.S. went unbeaten in Richards' fall slate.

"You have to be able to fight," Richards told GOAL this summer. "You have to be competitive and be intense in every game. I think, within the last year or so, we may have lost that because of, I guess, how easy CONCACAF games had kind of come to us. It's not to blame anybody, but I think March was the straw that broke the camel's back. I think that was a real chance for us to look in the mirror and ask each other, 'What are we doing?'

"I think maybe we lost our way in the last year and became too friendly and nice to teams. F*ck that. We want to be the guys who, if you want to beat us, you have to earn it. We have to show teams that we're not anyone to mess with, whatever it takes. We stand up for each other. That's something that we should never compromise."

Heading into the summer, Richards set a goal for himself. He wanted to be a leaders, yeah, but he also wanted to do it in a way where he can be authentically himself.

"I understand I'm a leader and I want to act like it," he said. "Regardless of who's on the team at the World Cup next year, I still want to be that person. I came into this summer with the confidence to say, 'Man, I'm doing my own f*cking thing and I’m going to be me'. Like, I'm going to earn my spot, but I'm also going to try and be captain or whatever the case may be. That's been my No. 1 goal."

It wasn't just words. His teammates saw it, too.

"Chris Richards has stepped up in more of a vocal role in terms of leading," Tim Ream said. "He's making sure guys are doing the right things and making sure guys are in the right positions...It's something that gives all of us a good foundation. Moving forward, that can help anyone who comes into camp from here on out."

The U.S. is a much better team with this new version of Richards, and, now with this Player of the Year award on his resume, the defender has been rewarded for that leap. Now, with a World Cup on the horizon, he's right up there among the USMNT's most important players, on and off the field.