Wales National Football Team (AEWCF)

Wales
Association	Football Association of Wales
Confederation	UEFA
Highest FIFA ranking	12 (1934)
Lowest FIFA ranking	23 (1930)
First international
	Scotland 3-0 Wales; (Glasgow, Scotland; 26 March 1876)
FIFA World Cup
Appearances	4 (First in 1906)
Best result	4th, (1934)

The Wales national football team is the association football team that represents the country of Wales in international competition and is controlled by the Football Association of Wales. Wales has qualified for four FIFA World Cups.

History[]

Formation[]

The first instance of a Welsh national team match was back in 1876 when they took on Scotland at Hamilton Crescent. Their first match against a much more experience Scotland team would end up with a three-nil defeat. During a five year time frame, they would mainly take on Scotland but would have their first matches against England and Ireland. In 1884, they would join the other British teams to compete in the British Home Championship with the tournament running until 1948 when it would be discontinued.

It would be until 1906 when they would compete against a team outside of the British Isles when they were invited to compete at the 1906 FIFA World Cup which was held in France. Being featured in a group that also had Argentina and Belgium. After only just scraping through for a 1-0 win off a back of a goal from Edwin Hughes, the Welsh struggled as they went down 2-0 to Argentina. Argentina again would be the nemesis in the following World Cup in Austria as they lost to a Alfredo Brown hat-trick despite winning the two previous Home Championships leading up to this tournament.

The performance at that World Cup meant they would create history by being one of eight teams in compete in the new qualification format for the 1914 FIFA World Cup that was being held across the border in England. Taking on Scotland in the qualifier at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, the Welsh attempted to try and turn over the match from earlier in that year where they had lost 1-0 at the 1913 British Home Championship. Despite a crowd of 10,000 people, the Welsh was eliminated by a goal from Robert Mercer in the 69th minute.

After the war[]

After the first World War, Wales didn't compete in the first three tournaments back with them mainly focusing on the British Home Championship at the time as they won the first edition back after the war. The Welsh would stay consist through the early-mid 1920s which would lead to a qualification for the 1926 FIFA World Cup after finishing second in the group behind Scotland. This meant that they were drawn in a group which featured Brazil (who was on debut), Scotland and Spain who was the host nation. After a 2-1 loss to Scotland, Jack Fowler and Stanley Davis both scored a goal in the 2-0 victory. In the final match, Wales would draw with Brazil after a late goal from Lagarto in the 86th minute ended the shot for Wales.

As part of the discussions with the Dominion of Canada Football Association as well as the other British FA's brought football at the British Empire Games as it would become the first and to date only team sport in the games. Though in the first tournament, they would only get the one solid win against Australia who were traveling through Canada at the time. After the tournament, a second place finish at the 1931 British Championship gave them confidence to do well at the 1933 WEFF Championship qualifiers which was the first stage towards the 1934 FIFA World Cup which was being held in Italy. With the top two nations going to the main tournament, they would finish top by goal average to Portugal. This meant that they were put into a group with the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg. After a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in the opening game, they would get a win over Italy and Luxembourg to again finish top of their group. Taking on Belgium, in the semi-final, a late goal from Willie Evans got the Welsh through to the World Cup.

Being drawn in Group A with Brazil, Netherlands and Mexico, the Welsh surprised everyone in their first game when they defeated the world no.1 nation at the time in the Netherlands by a single goal from Taffy O`Callaghan. The Welsh would than follow it by a 1-1 draw against Brazil before defeating Mexico 3-1 with three different goalscorers. This meant that Wales qualified through to the knockout stage as the runner-up from Group A. Their next opponent was Czechoslovakia which the Welsh defeated them 2-1 as goals from O'Callaghan and Ernest Glover meant that Wales was the first team in twenty years to qualify from a British nation. Though their dream would end in the semi-finals with losses to France and Brazil meant that they would finish in fourth place.

After finishing second at the 1934 British Empire Games, the Welsh wouldn't escape the group stage of the 1935 WEFF Championship finishing third place behind France and Italy. After skipping the 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification due to the Italian regime. They would then compete in the 1938 British Empire Games where they finished with the bronze medal defeating Northern Ireland 2-1.

Unification with the other home nations[]

Tournament history[]

FIFA World Cup[]

Gold Silver Bronze

FIFA World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
1906	Group Stage	7th	2	1	0	1	1	2
1910	Round 1	=14th	1	0	0	1	0	5
1914	Did Not Qualify
1922	Did Not Participate
1926	Group Stage	9th	3	1	1	1	4	3
1930	Did Not Qualify
1934	Semi Finalist	4th	6	3	2	1	8	8
1938	Did Not Participate
1950 onwards	Part of Great Britain
Total	Semi Finalist	4/9	12	5	3	4	13	18

Commonwealth Games[]

Gold Silver Bronze

Commonwealth Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
1930	Group Stage	4th	3	1	0	2	9	5
1934	Group Stage	2nd	3	1	1	1	4	3
1938	Group Stage	3rd	3	2	1	0	9	2
1954	Group Stage	4th	4	2	0	2	10	5
1958	Champions	1st	4	4	0	0	14	3
1962	Champions	1st	3	3	0	0	8	2
Total	Champion x2	6/6	20	13	2	5	54	20