Wales national football team

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The Wales national football team's only World Cup appearance was in 1958, but they left an impression by drawing all the matches in their group against Hungary, Mexico, and Sweden before defeating the Hungarians in a tiebreaker match to reach the Quarterfinals. There the Welsh lost 1–0 to eventual champions Brazil.

They have never qualified for the European Championship, last losing in the playoffs for a place in Euro 2004 against Russia. Russia had a player (Egor Titov) test positive for banned drug use after the first qualifying leg, however the sport's governing body decided to take no action against the team other than asking them not to play Titov again.

Former player Mark Hughes served as manager through the 2004 season, but he left to concentrate on his new job as manager of Blackburn Rovers of the English Premiership. John Toshack was appointed manager for the second time on 12 November 2004, ten years after he had resigned from the position after one game in charge.

During the Euro 2004 qualifying tournament Wales became the best supported national team in Europe, with an average attendance in excess of 70,000. The FAW's policy of cheaper tickets helped to contribute, but nonetheless it was a remarkable honour for a small nation, with little international success, and where football is arguably not even the national sport, as rugby union is more ingrained in the Welsh national sporting consciousness.

Contents

1 Stadium
2 Competition History

2.1 World Cup record
2.2 European Championship record
2.3 FIFA World Ranking

3 Famous players
4 Current Squad
5 Managers
6 External links

Stadium

Wales play their home matches at the Millennium Stadium. Prior to its construction they generally played at the grounds of Cardiff City F.C., Swansea City F.C. and Wrexham F.C. In recent seasons several matches have been played away from the Millennium stadium, in Swansea and Wrexham but thus far these have all been friendly matches.

Competition History

World Cup record

1930 to 1938 - Did not enter
1950 - Did not qualify
1954 - Did not qualify
1958 - Quarter-finals
1962 to 2006 - Did not qualify

European Championship record

1960 - Did not enter
1964 to 2004 - Did not qualify

FIFA World Ranking

Date	Ranking
January 1999	74th
January 2000	98th
January 2001	109th
January 2002	100th
January 2003	53rd
January 2004	65th
January 2005	68th
January 2006	72nd
July 2006	58th

Famous players

Current Squad

Goalkeepers

Name	Age	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Jason Brown	24	Blackburn Rovers	1 (0)	v Trinidad and Tobago, 27 May 2006
Danny Coyne	32	Burnley	11 (0)	v Unknown
Glyn Garner	29	Leyton Orient	1 (0)	v Trinidad and Tobago, 27 May 2006
Paul Jones	39	Queens Park Rangers	46 (0)	v Scotland, 1997
Martyn Margetson	34	Cardiff City	1 (0)	v Canada, 2004
Lewis Price	22	Ipswich	2 (0)	v Cyprus, 16 November 2005
Darren Ward	32	Norwich City F.C.	0 (0)	v n/a

Defenders

Name	Age	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Gareth Bale	17	Southampton	1 (0)	v Trinidad and Tobago, 27 May 2006
Danny Collins	25	Sunderland	2 (0)	v Cyprus, 16 November 2005
James Collins	22	West Ham	11 (0)	v Unknown
Mark Delaney	30	Aston Villa	33 (0)	v Unknown
Richard Duffy	20	Portsmouth	5 (0)	v Slovenia, 17 August 2005
Rob Edwards	23	Wolves	10 (0)	v Azerbaijan, 29 March 2003
Danny Gabbidon	27	West Ham	26 (0)	v Czech Republic, 2002
Lewin Nyatanga	17	Derby	2 (0)	v Paraguay, 1 March 2006
Robert Page	31	Coventry	41 (1)	v Turkey, 1996
Sam Ricketts	24	Swansea	10 (0)	v Hungary, 9 February 2005
Rhys Weston	27	Cardiff	7 (0)	v Portugal, 6 February 2000

Midfielders

Name	Age	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Andrew Crofts	22	Gillingham	3 (0)	v Azerbaijan, 12 October 2005
Simon Davies	26	Everton	28 (5)	v Ukraine, 6 June 2001
Carl Fletcher	26	Westham	11 (0)	v Scotland, 18 February 2004
Ryan Giggs (captain)	33	Manchester United	56 (11)	v West Germany, June 1991
Jason Koumas	26	West Bromwich Albion F.C.	15 (1)	v Ukraine, 6 June 2001
Joe Ledley	19	Cardiff	3 (0)	v Poland, October 2005
John Oster	27	Reading	13 (0)	v Unknown
Paul Parry	25	Cardiff	6 (0)	v Scotland, 18 February 2004
Carl Robinson	29	Norwich	29 (1)	v Belarus, 1999
Owain Tudor Jones	24	Swansea	0 (0)	v n/a
David Vaughan	23	Crewe Alexandra	3 (0)	v USA, 26 May 2003
Gavin Williams	25	Ipswich	1 (0)	v Cyprus, 16 November 2005

Strikers

Name	Age	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Craig Bellamy	26	Liverpool	35 (9)	v Jamaica, 23 March 1998
David Cotterill	19	Bristol City	3 (0)	v Azerbaijan, 12 October 2005
Robert Earnshaw	25	Norwich	26 (11)	v Germany, 14 May 2002

Managers

External links

redirect

Football in Wales
Football Association of Wales \| Welsh national team \| (ladies) \| Welsh football league system'''
Cups	Welsh Cup \| FAW Premier Cup \| Welsh League Cup
Leagues	League of Wales \| Cymru Alliance Welsh Football League Division 1 \| Division 2 \| Division 3 Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Premier \| Division 1 Mid-Wales League \| Welsh Alliance League

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Asia: AFC – Asian Cup

Africa: CAF – African Cup of Nations

North America: CONCACAF – Gold Cup

South America: CONMEBOL – Copa América

Oceania: OFC – Nations Cup

Europe: UEFA – European Championship

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