Crystal Palace 2009–10 season Zaha was given his Crystal Palace first-team debut at home to
Cardiff City on 27 March 2010 by
caretaker manager Paul Hart as a
substitute for
Stern John with 10 minutes remaining in the 2–1 loss. He signed a two-year professional contract with Palace in April.
2010–11 season He quickly progressed through the ranks at Palace and became a key member of the first team during the
2010–11 pre-season friendlies. On 7 August 2010, he scored his first senior goal in a 3–2 win over
Leicester City. Zaha assisted
Kieron Cadogan in the home match against
Queens Park Rangers in October and
James Vaughan in the away match against
Watford in February 2011. On 12 April 2011, he was sent off in the 95th minute against Leicester City for an alleged stamp on
Patrick van Aanholt but it was later rescinded. Zaha ended the season playing a total of 44 matches, while scoring 1 goal and having 2 assists in all competitions.
2011–12 season in 2012 Zaha started the 2011–12 season by scoring two goals in a
League Cup match on 23 August 2011 at home to
Crawley Town. On 30 November, Zaha impressed in Crystal Palace's 2–1 shock win over Manchester United in the League Cup, constantly sneaking through the United defence and in January, attracting interest from Liverpool and Manchester United. In March 2012, Zaha was voted
The Football League's Young Player of the Year. In the latter part of the season, manager
Dougie Freedman opted to play Zaha as a striker and on 21 April he scored in a 2–2 draw with
Reading, in a match that saw Reading secure the
Championship title. At the end of the 2011–12 season, Zaha was voted Crystal Palace Young Player of the Year for a second time in a row. During this season, he made 48 appearances while scoring 9 goals and recording 5 assists.
2012–13 season action for Palace against future loan club Cardiff, 2012 Zaha started the 2012–13 season brightly, getting an assist in the League Cup against
Exeter City and winning a penalty in the first league match against Watford. Zaha scored his first two goals of the season against
Wolverhampton Wanderers on 2 October 2012. He then scored two goals in a match again, four days later, in a 4–3 win over
Burnley. On 5 March 2013, Zaha scored his first goal for Crystal Palace since being loaned back from Manchester United, in a 4–2 victory against promotion rivals
Hull City. On 13 May 2013, in the second leg of the
play-off semi-final against
Brighton & Hove Albion, Zaha scored two goals in the second half to put Crystal Palace into the play-off final at
Wembley Stadium. In the
play-off final on 27 May 2013, Zaha won a penalty that was converted to secure Crystal Palace a Premier League spot for the 2013–14 season.
Manchester United for
Cardiff City in 2014 On 25 January 2013, Zaha agreed to join
Premier League club
Manchester United, and would immediately be loaned back to Crystal Palace for the remainder of the season. Palace tried to delay the transfer and agree the transfer in the summer of 2013, but Football League rules prevented this with the player having to join United and be loaned back to Palace. Zaha passed the medical at Manchester United, signing a five-and-a-half-year contract on 26 January 2013 for a reported £10m rising to £15m with performance-related add-ons. On 11 August 2013, Zaha made his debut for Manchester United in the
2013 FA Community Shield win against
Wigan Athletic. He did not play again until 29 October, starting in a 4–0 win over
Norwich City in the third round of the League Cup at
Old Trafford. His
Premier League debut was on 7 December in a 1–0 home loss to
Newcastle United, as a substitute for
Nani shortly after his team conceded. On 31 January 2014, Zaha completed a loan move to
Cardiff City for the remainder of the
2013–14 season after being left out of favour by manager
David Moyes. At the end of the season, following Moyes' sacking, Zaha said that he was never given a chance by the Scot. He contrasted his experience with that of
Raheem Sterling, another young attacker who was given a chance by
Liverpool after a difficult start. He also said that he was upset by false and malicious online rumours about his personal life.
Return to Crystal Palace 2014–15 season On 28 August 2014, Zaha agreed to a season-long loan deal with Crystal Palace. Two days later, in the first match of his loan, he scored a stoppage-time equaliser in a 3–3 draw at
Newcastle United. On 2 February 2015, the final day of the winter transfer window, Zaha's move to Palace was made permanent with the signing of a five-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £3 million, rising to £6 million with add-ons; Manchester United would also receive a percentage of the fee if Palace sell Zaha in the future. United wouldn't receive this sell-on fee as Zaha would join Galatasaray on a free transfer in 2023. Zaha played regularly for Crystal Palace throughout the season, finishing the season with four goals and two assists as Crystal Palace finished the league in 10th place.
2015–16 season Again, Zaha was a regular for Crystal Palace in this season, making 34 appearances, scoring two goals and recording one assist, while Crystal Palace finished in 15th place. Zaha won the
Crystal Palace Player of the Year award for the first time.
2016–17 season On 26 December 2016, Zaha was denied a penalty in the closing minutes against Watford. Some speculated that Zaha had overplayed the foul or taken a dive. After the match Watford's mascot attempted to rile Zaha up by mimicking a dive in front of him. On 14 May 2017, Zaha scored the opening goal in the third minute of the home game against Hull City that simultaneously mathematically secured Crystal Palace's top flight status and relegated Hull City to the Championship. After another outstanding season with The Eagles, Zaha won Crystal Palace's Player of the Year award for the second year running. On 26 May 2017, Zaha signed a new five-year contract with Crystal Palace.
2017–18 season On 14 October 2017, Zaha returned to Palace's starting line-up for the first time in two months and scored to open a 2–1 win over Chelsea to give the Eagles their first points of the season. He was
Premier League Player of the Month for April 2018 for his four goals and assist while playing up front; on 14 April he scored twice in the first half of a 3–2 win over
rivals Brighton & Hove Albion. Despite their poor start, Palace stayed up with a game in hand under new manager
Roy Hodgson, with the combination between Zaha and fellow winger
Andros Townsend a key factor. He was named their Player of the Year for the third time in a row, a feat only done before by goalkeeper
Julián Speroni.
2018–19 season In Palace's first game of the new season on 11 August, Zaha scored the second goal of a 2–0 win at Fulham. It was his 23rd Premier League goal for the club, drawing level with
Chris Armstrong as their top scorer in the competition's history. Four days later he signed a new five-year contract at Crystal Palace. On 26 August, with a consolation goal in a 2–1 loss at Watford, he overtook Armstrong to become Palace's Premier League top scorer. After scoring a winning goal against
Huddersfield Town in September 2018, Zaha publicly complained about what he considered to be a lack of appropriate protection by referees against fouls, saying that he would need a broken leg before any action would be taken. Data proved that in the last five years, he was the second most fouled player in the league after
Eden Hazard. In October, Zaha was the victim of
racist abuse and death threats following a match. Zaha received a
second yellow card, the first for mass confrontation with
James Ward-Prowse, and the other for dissent on referee
Andre Marriner against
Southampton on 30 January 2019. In June 2019, he was linked with a transfer to
Arsenal, who made a £40 million offer for the player, which Crystal Palace rejected as too low. In October, he received racial abuse on social media.`
2019–20 season Zaha played in all 38 league matches with Crystal Palace, having a disappointing campaign, scoring only 4 goals, including a long-distance goal against
Chelsea.
2020–21 season On 12 September 2020, Zaha scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over
Southampton. On 19 September, he scored a brace in a 3–1 away win over his former team Manchester United. On 13 March 2021, Zaha became the first Premier League player not to take a knee prior to kick-off in Palace's 1–0 win over West Bromwich Albion. Zaha made a statement at the
Financial Times' Business of Football summit in February saying that "As a society, I feel we should be encouraging better education in schools, and social media companies should be taking stronger action against people who abuse others online – not just footballers". On 16 May, Zaha scored his eleventh league goal of the season in a 3–2 win against Aston Villa, setting a new personal best for goals in a Premier League season.
2021–22 season On 27 September 2021, Zaha marked his 400th appearance for Crystal Palace with his 70th goal in a 1–1 draw with rivals Brighton & Hove Albion. On 30 October, Zaha became the first player to score 50 top-flight goals for Crystal Palace in a 2–0 win at
Manchester City. Zaha finished the season as 9th top scorer in the league with 14 goals, to be his new personal best record.
2022–23 season Zaha scored seven goals in only 27 appearances in the Premier League. He missed several matches due to injury in February and April. He also missed the last two games of the season, having been forced off with an injury in a 2–0 win over
Bournemouth on 13 May 2023; he played a crucial role in setting up the first goal on what turned out to be his 457th and final appearance for the club. Zaha's contract expired at the end of the season. Despite being offered a four-year extension worth £200,000 a week by Crystal Palace, Zaha confirmed in an
Instagram statement on 23 July 2023 that he would be departing the club after a total of eighteen years.
Galatasaray On 23 July 2023,
Süper Lig side
Galatasaray announced that Zaha arrived in Istanbul to complete his transfer to Turkey. On the next day, he signed a three-year contract with the club who said that Zaha would be paid a signing-on fee of €2.35 million and an annual salary of €4.35 million. Zaha made his Süper Lig debut against
Kayserispor on 12 August. On 20 September, he marked his
Champions League group stage debut with an assist for
Tetê's goal in a 2–2 home draw against
Copenhagen. On 3 October, he scored his first Champions League goal against his former club Manchester United in a 3–2 win at Old Trafford for Galatasaray on his first start in the competition.
Loan to Lyon On 30 August 2024, Zaha joined
Lyon on loan until the end of the 2024–25 season. Lyon paid Galatasaray a loan fee of €3 million. Following a mutual agreement between Lyon and Galatasaray, his loan was terminated on 22 January 2025.
Loan to Charlotte FC On 22 January 2025, it was announced that Zaha would join
Major League Soccer club
Charlotte FC on a one-year loan, with an option to extend the loan until June 2026. In his 4 March debut against
Atlanta United FC, Zaha scored one goal in his team's 2–0 win. On 1 June, he played his 15th league game, which triggered the loan extension until 30 June 2026. ==International career==