Welsh national football team

This article is about the men's Welsh national football team. For the women's team, see Welsh National Women's Football Team .

Wales
Cymru

Nickname (s)	The Dragons ( The Dragons )
Association	Football Association of Wales
confederacy	UEFA
Technical sponsor	Adidas
Head coach	Ryan Giggs (2018-)
captain	Ashley Williams
Record scorer	Gareth Bale (33)
Record player	Chris Gunter (96)
Home stadium	Millennium Stadium
FIFA code	WHALE
FIFA rank	23. (1540 points) (as of July 16, 2020)
First jersey Second jersey
Balance sheet
659 games 207 wins 143 draws 309 defeats
statistics
First international match Scotland 4-0 Wales ( Glasgow , Scotland ; 25 March 1876 )
Biggest win Wales 11-0 Ireland ( Wrexham , Wales ; March 3, 1888 )
Biggest defeat Scotland 9-0 Wales ( Glasgow , Scotland ; 23 March 1878 )
Successes in tournaments
World Championship
Participation in the finals	1 ( first : 1958 )
Best results	Quarterfinals 1958
European Championship
Participation in the finals	1 ( first : 2016 )
Best results	Semi-finals ( 2016 )
(As of November 19, 2019)

The Welsh national football team selects the best football players from Wales . She achieved her greatest success in the only participation in a soccer world championship so far , the 1958 World Cup , when the team only failed in the quarter-finals against Brazil with 0: 1.

The team qualified for the finals of a European Championship for the first time in 2016 and was able to advance to the semi-finals, which the selection lost 2-0 to eventual European champions Portugal. In 1976 Wales failed in the qualifying quarter-finals.

In July 2015, Wales reached the top ten of the FIFA world rankings for the first time in history .

Her coat of arms: Welsh : Gorau Chwarae Cyd Chwarae ([ ˈɡɔrai ˈχwarai kiːd ˈχwarai ]) - Best to play - to play together

In mid-January 2018, Ryan Giggs took over as coach for the Welsh team. The contract runs until the 2022 World Cup .

World Championship

→ Main article : Welsh National Football Team / World Championships

The results are presented from a Welsh perspective.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Results	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated
1934	Italy	not participated
1938	France	not participated
1950	Brazil	not qualified				In the qualification of England and Scotland failed. The qualification was also counted as the British Home Championship .
1954	Switzerland	not qualified				In the qualification of England and Scotland failed. The qualification was also counted as the British Home Championship .
1958	Sweden	Quarter finals	Brazil	6th	Jimmy Murphy	Wales initially failed in qualifying against Czechoslovakia , then Israel was drawn and, after two wins , was able to qualify for the only time so far for the World Cup, where all four British associations participated for the only time so far, of which Northern Ireland only made the quarter-finals reached. Both made it to the quarter-finals only through playoffs for 2nd place.
1962	Chile	not qualified				In the qualification of Spain failed.
1966	England	not qualified				In the qualification of the Soviet Union failed
1970	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of European champions Italy failed.
1974	Germany	not qualified				Failed in the qualification together with England against Poland
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualification of Scotland failed
1982	Spain	not qualified				In the qualification of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia failed
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of Spain and Scotland failed
1990	Italy	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to the Netherlands and the eventual world champion Germany
1994	United States	not qualified				In the qualification of Romania and Belgium failed
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification to the Netherlands and Belgium failed
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				In the qualification to Poland and Ukraine failed in the play-offs of Germany failed
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification of England and Poland failed
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the qualification to Germany and Russia failed, which also failed in the play-offs.
2014	Brazil	not qualified				In the qualification to Belgium and Croatia failed
2018	Russia	not qualified				In the qualification of Serbia and Ireland failed, which failed in the playoffs to Denmark.

European Championship

→ Main article : Welsh National Football Team / European Championships

Wales qualified for the finals for the first time in 2016. The best result so far was reaching the quarter-finals in 1976, which was played before the actual final round. In the 2016 European Football Championship , Gareth Bale scored Wales' first goal in a European Championship against Slovakia.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Comments and special features
1960	France	not participated
1964	Spain	not qualified			Failed in the preliminary round to Hungary .
1968	Italy	not qualified			In the qualification , which was held at the same time as the British Home Championship , failed at the later third England .
1972	Belgium	not qualified			In the qualification of Romania failed, which also failed to qualify for the final round.
1976	Yugoslavia	not qualified			In the quarter-finals failed because of the hosts and eventual fourth.
1980	Italy	not qualified			In qualifying at the eventual winners Germany failed
1984	France	not qualified			Failed in the qualification to Yugoslavia
1988	BR Germany	not qualified			In the qualification of Denmark failed.
1992	Sweden	not qualified			In the qualification to world champion Germany failed.
1996	England	not qualified			In qualifying at the eventual winners Germany and Bulgaria failed.
2000	Netherlands and Belgium	not qualified			In the qualification of Italy and Denmark failed.
2004	Portugal	not qualified			In the qualification of Italy and in the relegation of Russia failed.
2008	Austria and Switzerland	not qualified			In the qualification of Czech Republic and Germany failed.
2012	Poland and Ukraine	not qualified			In the qualification of England and Montenegro failed.
2016	France	Semifinals	Portugal	0: 2 (0: 0)	In the qualification , Wales prevailed together with Belgium . The preliminary round was crowned with the group victory before England, Slovakia and Russia. After victories over Northern Ireland and the highly favored Belgians, Wales was only stopped by Portugal in the semi-finals .
2021	Europe	qualified			Wales had also applied to host finals with the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff , but were not considered.

Extended squad

As of November 19, 2019

Surname	birthday	Games	Gates	society	debut	Last game
goalkeeper
Adam Davies	07/17/1992	0	0	Barnsley FC	-
Wayne Hennessey	01/24/1987	89	0	Crystal Palace FC	2007	November 19, 2019
Danny Ward	06/22/1993	7th	0	Leicester City	2016	09.09.2019
Defense
Ben Davies	04/24/1993	52	0	Tottenham Hotspur	2012	November 19, 2019
Ethan Ampadu	09/14/2000	13	0	RB Leipzig	2017	November 19, 2019
Chris Gunter	07/21/1989	96	0	Reading FC	2007	09.09.2019
Tom Lockyer	12/30/1994	10	0	Charlton Athletic	2017	November 19, 2019
Chris Mepham	05/11/1997	10	0	Bournemouth AFC	2018	November 19, 2019
Joe Rodon	10/22/1997	4th	0	Swansea City	2019	October 13, 2019
Neil Taylor	02/07/1989	43	1	Aston Villa	2010	06.09.2019
Ashley Williams	08/23/1984	86	2	Bristol City	2008	06/11/2019
midfield
Joe Allen	March 14, 1990	56	2	Stoke City	2009	November 19, 2019
Daniel James	11/10/1997	10	2	Manchester United	2018	November 19, 2019
Joe Morrell	03/01/1997	5	0	Lincoln City	2019	November 19, 2019
Aaron Ramsey	December 26, 1990	60	16	Juventus Turin	2008	November 19, 2019
Connor Roberts	09/23/1995	16	1	Swansea City	2018	November 19, 2019
Will Vaulks	09/13/1993	5	0	Cardiff City	2019	11/16/2019
Jonny Williams	10/09/1993	21st	0	Charlton Athletic	2013	October 13, 2019
Harry Wilson	03/22/1997	17th	3	Bournemouth AFC	2013	November 19, 2019
Storm
Gareth Bale	07/16/1989	83	33	real Madrid	2006	November 19, 2019
Rabbi Matondo	09.09.2000	4th	0	FC Schalke 04	2018	11/16/2019
Kieffer Moore	08/08/1992	5	2	Wigan Athletic	2019	November 19, 2019
Tyler Roberts	01/12/1999	7th	0	Leeds United	2018	October 13, 2019
Sam Vokes	10/21/1989	64	11	Stoke City	2008	09.09.2019

Trainer

• Walley Barnes (1954–1955)
• Jimmy Murphy (1956–1964)
• Dave Bowen (1964, 1965-1974)
• Ronnie Burgess (1965)
• Mike Smith (1974–1979, 1994–1995)
• Mike England (1979–1987)
• David Williams (1988)
• Terry Yorath (1988-1993)
• John Toshack (1994, 2004-2010)
• Bobby Gould (1995-1999)
• Neville Southall (1999)
• Mark Hughes (1999-2004)
• Brian Flynn (2010)
• Gary Speed (2010-2011)
• Chris Coleman (2012-2017)
• Ryan Giggs (2018-)

Record player

(As of November 19, 2019)

On November 20, 2018, Chris Gunter replaced long-time record national player Neville Southall as the record holder.

Record player

Games	player	Period	Gates
96	Chris Gunter	2007 – active	0
92	Neville Southall	1982-1997	0
89	Wayne Hennessey	2007 – active	0
86	Ashley Williams	2008 – active	2
85	Gary Speed	1990-2004	7th
83	Gareth Bale	2006 – active	33
78	Craig Bellamy	1998-2013	19th
77	Joe Ledley	2005 – active	4th
75	Dean Saunders	1986-2001	22nd
73	Peter Nicholas	1979-1992	2
73	Ian Rush	1980-1996	28
72	Mark Hughes	1984-1999	16
72	Joey Jones	1976-1986	1
68	Ivor Allchurch	1951-1966	23
66	Brian Flynn	1975-1984	7th
65	Andy Melville	1989-2004	3
64	Ryan Giggs	1991-2007	12
64	Sam Vokes	2008 – active	11

Gareth Bale replaced Ian Rush as the Welsh top scorer on March 22, 2018 with three goals in a 6-0 win against China .

Record shooters

Gates	player	Period	Games
33	Gareth Bale	2006 – active	83
28	Ian Rush	1980-1996	73
23	Ivor Allchurch †	1951-1966	68
23	Trevor Ford †	1947-1957	38
22nd	Dean Saunders	1986-2001	75
19th	Craig Bellamy	1998-2013	78
16	Robert Earnshaw	2002–2012	59
16	Mark Hughes	1984-1999	72
16	Cliff Jones	1954-1970	59
16	Aaron Ramsey	2008 – active	60
15th	John Charles †	1950-1965	38
14th	John Hartson	1997-2005	51
13	John Toshack	1969-1980	58

See also

• List of international matches for the Welsh national football team

Web links

Commons : Welsh National Football Team  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• All Wales international matches on rsssf.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The FIFA / Coca-Cola World Ranking. In: fifa.com. July 16, 2020, accessed July 21, 2020 . 
2. ↑ spiegel.de: New job for ManUnited legend - Giggs becomes national coach of Wales Article from January 15, 2018
3. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF file; 195 kB)
4. ↑ http://www.national-football-teams.com/country/205/2017/Wales.html
5. ↑ https://www.transfermarkt.de/wales/erweiterterkader/verein/3864
6. ↑ faw.cymru: Gunter the fitting record-breaker
7. ↑ ^{a b} rsssf.com: Wales - Record International Players (as of February 14, 2019)
8. ↑ PLAYERS → played for Wales national team / (as of October 13, 2019)
9. ↑ weltfussball.de: Bale new record scorer in Wales after a three-pack
10. ↑ PLAYERS → Wales national football team goal scorers (as of November 20, 2018)