27 October – The Football Association of Wales (FAW) has launched a ten-year strategy aimed at adding 40,000 registered players, improving facilities and making regular qualification for major tournaments a benchmark for national teams.
The Llunio Cymru plan, which runs from 2026 to 2036, has set its sights on increasing registered players from 120,000 to 160,000, including at least 20,000 women and girls.
It also wants to halve the number of 12-17-year-olds leaving football and will focus on development work in the most diverse and disadvantaged communities in Wales.
Facilities are another part of the programme, with the FAW pushing for every community to have access to a quality football facility within 15 minutes.
The number of qualified affiliated coaches is expected to increase by 30%, so that by 2035, all competitive matches from Under-12 level will have a qualified neutral referee.
A new elite pathway will link grassroots football, national clubs and professional academies, with four elite development schemes planned in partnership with professional clubs in Wales. The FAW wants at least two players per year from each pathway to graduate to the senior national teams and aims to retain 95% of dual national players in its youth teams.
The home game is also expected to bear more commercial weight. The FAW is targeting a 150% increase in engagement with its domestic leagues over the next five years and a 300% increase in the domestic football commercial portfolio.
Chief executive Noel Mooney said: “Over the next decade, we will increase opportunities at all levels of the game while seeking success that the whole nation can share.”
Dr David Adams, FAW Director of Football, added: “Our ambition is to create a connected pathway that gives all talented Welsh players the chance to reach their potential.
“By bringing together grassroots football, academies, national and professional clubs and our national teams, we can provide the training, support and performance environment needed to compete with the best. There will be a focus on working with professional clubs in Wales to create four world-class player development systems to support elite brand and female talent in our national teams.”
Ben Field, head of grassroots football at FAW, said: “Football has the power to improve lives in every community, and this plan is about making sure more people have the chance to be a part of it. We want to remove barriers to playing, support the volunteers who make the game possible, improve facilities and help clubs become even stronger in the community. Our focus is to create football as safe and secure.”
Bethan Woolley, head of women’s and girls’ football at FAW: “This is a defining opportunity for women’s and girls’ football in Cymru. Later this year we will publish our dedicated women and girls strategy which is determined to create more places to play, more visible pathways to progress and more opportunities to coach, referee, volunteer and lead.
“By growing the game in an inclusive and sustainable way, we can ensure that all girls and women who want to participate in football feel that the game belongs to them.”
The plan comes ahead of a busy period for Welsh football. Wales will host matches at Euro 2028, host the Women’s Champions League final in 2029 and be part of the Women’s World Cup in 2035.
The FAW expects the men’s and women’s national teams to reach the last 16 of Euro 2028 and the 2035 Women’s World Cup.
He has also set out his expectations to qualify for 50% of major international tournaments over the next decade, with the men targeting a FIFA top 20 and the women in the top 24.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)
