Prosiect Cymru: Welsh EFL clubs seek FA approval for Europe plan
As well as generating more funding for Welsh football and raising the profile of the domestic game, FAW hopes having EFL clubs representing Wales in European competitions will improve the country’s poor UEFA coefficient ranking, which currently ranks 49th out of 55 countries. Bit.
Welsh teams tend to underperform in Europe, but in this season’s Europa League, Cyprus Premier League champions New Saints became the first team in the Welsh pyramid to advance to the group stages of a major European competition.
FAW believes Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport will improve Wales’ performance in Europe and receive more prize money from UEFA, which can then be redistributed in Wales.
Cyprus Premier League clubs will safeguard Wales’ qualification for Champions League and Europa League promotion, “unanimously” support the Cyprus plans and will benefit from cup competitions with EFL rivals.
For the EFL clubs themselves, there is an obvious appeal to competing in European competition again, with Wrexham being the last team to qualify through domestic routes in the 1995-96 Cup Winners’ Cup three decades ago.
Welsh EFL clubs have qualified through the Welsh Cup in the past, and all four teams have achieved significant success in Europe. Cardiff beat Real Madrid in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971, Wrexham beat Porto in the same competition in 1984, Newport reached the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1981, and Swansea defeated Valencia in the 2013 Europa League.
“This is a game-changer for Welsh football,” FAW chief executive Noel Mooney told BBC Sport Wales. “It’s really transformed the revenue in Welsh football.
“This is about improving Wales and Welsh football. I have to thank the four top clubs in the English system for understanding that we need resources. We need better facilities at grassroots, investment in the women’s game.
“If people are against the idea, I really think they are holding Wales back. Why would you hold Wales back? What is the motivation for someone holding back Wales as a country trying to stand on its own feet as a footballing nation?”
