European Football Championship 2016 / Wales

This article covers the Welsh national team at the 2016 European Football Championship in France . For Wales it was the first participation in a European Championship finals and after participation in the World Cup finals in 1958 only the second participation in a major international tournament. Wales also benefited from the increase to 24 participants.

qualification

Gareth Bale , Welsh top scorer in qualifying against Belgium on June 12, 2015

Wales completed the qualification for the European Championship in Group B . The Welsh started the qualification with eight games without defeat and fought for a long time with the Belgians for second place. Then they lost on the penultimate matchday in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but were still qualified for the first time. With the win on the last day of the match, they secured second place. The qualification had not started well: after just six minutes they were 1-0 down in the first qualifying game with football dwarf Andorra. Thanks to Gareth Bale , they were able to win the game 2-1. With seven goals, Bale also played a key role in the Welsh success as Welsh top scorer. Twice he was the decisive man with the only goal in the game. Overall, the results of the Welsh were not very spectacular - only when they won in Israel they scored more than two goals. Together with Romania, they scored the fewest goals of all teams qualified with 10 games. In the ten games, coach Chris Coleman used 25 players, of which Gareth Bale, Chris Gunter , Wayne Hennessey and Ashley Williams were used in all ten games.

In the course of their qualification, the Welsh men improved in the FIFA world rankings among the UEFA teams from 41st to 8th place and were thus placed in the top 10 for the first time.

Games

All results from a Welsh perspective.

date	Venue	opponent	Result	Goal scorers
09/09/2014	Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella , Andorra la Vella ( AND )	Andorra	2: 1 (1: 1)	0: 1 Ildefons Lima (6th / penalty), 1: 1, 2: 1 Gareth Bale (22nd, 81st)
10/10/2014	Cardiff City Stadium , Cardiff	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0-0
October 13, 2014	Cardiff City Stadium , Cardiff	Cyprus	2: 1 (2: 1)	1-0 David Cotterill (13th), 2-0 Hal Robson-Kanu (23rd), 2-1 Vincent Laban (36th)
11/16/2014	King Baudouin Stadium , Brussels ( BEL )	Belgium	0-0
03/28/2015	Sammy Ofer Stadium , Haifa ( ISR )	Israel	3: 0 (1: 0)	1-0 Aaron Ramsey (45th + 1), 2-0, 3-0 Gareth Bale (50th, 77th)
06/12/2015	Cardiff City Stadium , Cardiff	Belgium	1: 0 (1: 0)	1-0 Gareth Bale (25th)
09/03/2015	GSP Stadium , Nicosia ( CYP )	Cyprus	1: 0 (0: 0)	1-0 Gareth Bale (82nd)
09/06/2015	Cardiff City Stadium , Cardiff	Israel	0-0
10/10/2015	Bilino Polje , Zenica ( BIH )	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0: 2 (0: 0)	0: 1 Milan Đurić (71.), 0: 2 Vedad Ibišević (90.)
13/10/2015	Cardiff City Stadium , Cardiff	Andorra	2: 0 (0: 0)	1-0 Aaron Ramsey (50th), 2-0 Gareth Bale (86th)

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Belgium	10	7th	2	1	024: 500	+19	23
2.	Wales	10	6th	3	1	011: 400	+7	21st
3.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	5	2	3	017:120	+5	17th
4th	Israel	10	4th	1	5	016:140	+2	13
5.	Cyprus	10	4th	0	6th	016:170	−1	12
6th	Andorra	10	0	0	10	004:360	−32	00
As of October 13, 2015

preparation

After the end of the qualification, the Welsh lost a test match in Cardiff on November 13th against the non-qualified Dutch with 2: 3, with Adam Henley and Owain Fôn Williams used two newcomers. On March 24, 2016, the EM newcomer met Northern Ireland , the second British EM newcomer, in Cardiff and was able to achieve a 1-1 draw with a penalty converted in the 89th minute. With Lloyd Isgrove and Danny Ward, two newcomers came to their first A internationals. Four days later the Welsh lost in Kiev against Ukraine with 0: 1 and sat there with Tom Bradshaw another newcomer one. On June 5, they met for their last test match before the European Championship in Solna on European Championship participants Sweden and lost 3-0, with Gareth Bale only coming on after 64 minutes when the score was 2-0. Then they moved to their base camp in Dinard .

Squad

A preliminary squad was named on May 9, 2016, with which a training camp in Portugal will begin on May 23. Was not named Gareth Bale , who on May 28 with Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League final still on Atletico Madrid will hit. The final roster was named on May 31. On May 7th, Joe Ledley suffered a broken fibula in the league game against Stoke City and is very likely to be out of the EM. No player plays in Welsh leagues, making Wales one of the four teams without players from domestic leagues alongside Iceland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. The players are under contract with 15 clubs, most (3 each) with West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace . Nine players are under contract with second division clubs.

No.	position	Surname	society	birth date	NM Sp.	NM gates	debut
1	goalkeeper	Wayne Hennessey	Crystal Palace	Jan. 24, 1987	61	0	2007	5
21st	goalkeeper	Danny Ward	Liverpool FC	June 22, 1993	3	0	2016	1
12	goalkeeper	Owain Fôn Williams	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	17th Mar 1987	1	0	2015
5	Defense	James Chester	West Bromwich Albion	Jan. 23, 1989	16	0	2014	6th		2
19th	Defense	James Collins	West Bromwich Albion	23 Aug 1983	48	3	2004	2
4th	Defense	Ben Davies	Tottenham Hotspur	Apr. 24, 1993	25th	0	2012	5		2
2	Defense	Chris Gunter	Reading FC	July 21, 1989	72	0	2007	6th		1
15th	Defense	Ashley Richards	Fulham FC	Apr 12, 1991	10	0	2012	1
3	Defense	Neil Taylor	Swansea City	0Feb. 7, 1989	33	1	2010	6th	1	1
6th	Defense	Ashley Williams	Swansea City	23 Aug 1984	64	2	2008	6th	1
7th	midfield	Joe Allen	Liverpool FC	14 Mar 1990	30th	0	2009	6th		1
14th	midfield	David Edwards	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0Feb. 3, 1986	35	3	2007	3
8th	midfield	Andy King	Leicester City	Oct 29, 1988	35	2	2009	3
16	midfield	Joe Ledley	Crystal Palace	Jan. 23, 1987	66	4th	2005	6th
10	midfield	Aaron Ramsey	Arsenal FC	Dec. 26, 1990	44	11	2008	5	1	2
22nd	midfield	David Vaughan	Nottingham Forest	Feb. 18, 1983	42	1	2003
13	midfield	George Williams	Fulham FC	0Sep 7 1995	7th	0	2014
20th	midfield	Jonny Williams	Crystal Palace	0Oct 9, 1993	15th	0	2013	4th
11	attack	Gareth Bale	real Madrid	July 16, 1989	60	22nd	2006	6th	3	1
23	attack	Simon Church	Milton Keynes Dons	Dec 10, 1988	37	3	2009	2
17th	attack	David Cotterill	Birmingham City	0Dec. 4, 1987	23	2	2005
9	attack	Hal Robson canoe	Reading FC	May 21, 1989	34	4th	2010	6th	2
18th	attack	Sam Vokes	Burnley FC	Oct 21, 1989	43	7th	2008	4th	1	1

Trainer: Chris Coleman

Players who were only in the preliminary roster

position	Surname	society	birth date	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	debut
Defense	Paul Dummett	Newcastle United	26 Sep 1991	2	0	2014
Defense	Adam Henley	Blackburn Rovers	June 14, 1994	2	0	2015
Defense	Adam Matthews	Sunderland AFC	Jan. 13, 1992	13	0	2001
midfield	Emyr Huws	Wigan Athletic	Sep 30 1983	6th	1	2014
attack	Tom Bradshaw	Walsall FC	July 27, 1992	1	0	2016
attack	Wes Burns	Bristol City	Nov 23, 1994	0	0
attack	Tom Lawrence	Leicester City	Jan. 13, 1994	4th	0	2015

Remarks:

1. ↑ ^{a b} Status: June 11, 2016 ( source )
2. ↑ ^{a b} as of June 5, 2016 ( source )

Finals

Toulouse Lens Bordeaux Paris (AF) Dinard Lille (VF) Lyon (HF)

Venues (green = won, red = lost), quarters (blue)

In the draw for the six final groups on December 12, 2015, Wales was placed in Pot 4. The Welsh were drawn in Group B with England, Russia and Slovakia. With 101 games before the European Championship, England are the second most popular opponents of the Welsh after Scotland . Of the participants in the European Championship, only Austria and Hungary , who were also drawn into a group, played against each other more often (136 times before the European Championship). With 14 wins, 21 draws and 66 defeats, the record against England is negative. The last win against England was the British Home Championship in 1983/84 , when it was last played. The Welsh also lost to England at the European Championship, but after taking the lead and through goals in the closing stages. The balance against Russia is also negative. There was one draw and three defeats in four games in the qualifications for the 2004 European Championships and 2010 World Cup . At the EM, the first win against the Russians in the final group game, which made the Welsh group winners. They had laid the foundation for this in the first game by beating Slovakia, against which there had previously only been two games, both in qualifying for the Euro 2008 , where both had won each other and scored five goals. Wales could then only score five more goals against Luxembourg , Slovakia then only five or more goals against San Marino . Wales had previously only played in Toulouse - in 1982 against France - and won 1-0.

As group winners, they will now face Northern Ireland, third in Group C, in the round of 16. If they win, they would face the winner of the game between Hungary and Belgium in the quarter-finals. They can meet defending champions Spain, world champions Germany, hosts France or England again in the final at the earliest. Against the Northern Irish there have been 44 wins, 24 draws and 27 defeats in 95 international matches. The last time they met was on March 24, 2016 in Cardiff , where the Welsh came to 1-1 with a penalty in the 89th minute. The Welsh won the first knockout match between two UK teams in a major football tournament 1-0 through an own goal from Northern Irish defender Gareth McAuley .

In the quarter-finals they met Belgium. Before that, there were four wins, three draws and five defeats in 12 games against the Belgians. The last time they met in the qualification for this European Championship, they parted once goalless and once with a 1-0 for the Welsh. Although they fell behind in the 13th minute, they were able to take advantage of the injuries and suspension-related changes in the Belgian defense and win 3-1, which offset the balance.

In the semi-finals on July 6, 2016, they met eventual European champions Portugal, but had to do without midfield strategist Aaron Ramsey , who had received the second yellow card . Defender Ben Davies was also suspended for the semifinals. Against the Portuguese there was only one win in three previous games - in May 1951 - but two defeats - the last time in June 2000. After a strong, but goalless first half, in which the absence of the suspended Ramsey and Davies made itself felt James Collins, who moved into defense, had twice luck in dubious actions against Cristiano Ronaldo , the Welshmen had to take two hits in the second half and could not score a goal themselves. The Portuguese goal could only put Gareth Bale in danger with long shots, which the Portuguese goalkeeper was able to save. Participation in the 2016 European Championship ended with a semi-final result of 0-2 for Wales. As the winners, they would have met host France in the final. After the tournament was over, two players from the Welsh team were nominated for the team of the tournament : Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey. As a result of the European Championship games, Wales improved by 15 places in the FIFA world rankings by winning the highest points of all 210 teams listed.

Group stage

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Wales	3	2	0	1	006: 300	+3	06th
2.	England	3	1	2	0	003: 200	+1	05
3.	Slovakia	3	1	1	1	003: 300	± 0	04th
4th	Russia	3	0	1	2	002: 600	−4	01

Sat., June 11, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Bordeaux
Wales	-	Slovakia	2: 1 (1: 0)
Thursday, June 16, 2016 at 3 p.m. in Lens
England	-	Wales	2: 1 (0: 1)
Mon., June 20, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Toulouse
Russia	-	Wales	0: 3 (0: 2)

Round of 16

Sat., June 25, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Paris
Wales	-	Northern Ireland	1: 0 (0: 0)

Quarter finals

Fri., July 1, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Villeneuve-d'Ascq ( Lille )
Wales	-	Belgium	3: 1 (1: 1)

Semifinals

Wed. July 6, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Décines-Charpieu (Lyon)
Portugal	-	Wales	2: 0 (0: 0)

See also

• Welsh National Football Team / European Championships

Individual evidence

1. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (August 14, 2014)
2. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (October 1, 2015)
3. ^ Wales - North. Ireland 1-1
4. ↑ Ukraine 1-0 Wales
5. ↑ faw.org: "SWEDEN TO BE FINAL TEST FOR EURO-BOUND WALES"
6. ↑ "Ledley next to Bale in the Wales roster"
7. ↑ dfb.de: "EM-Out and nine months break for Welbeck"
8. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten : Newcomers and long-running hits: Numbers - Numbers - Numbers: Albania is the biggest outsider among bookmakers , European Football Championship 2016, Paris, sid, June 10, 2016
9. ↑ uefa.com: "UEFA EURO 2016 final draw"
10. ↑ International match record Belgium vs. Wales
11. ↑ kicker.de: "Ramsey's absence is unbearable for Wales - CR7 and Nani shoot Portugal into the final"