The Football Association of Wales has launched a 10-year strategy called Llunio Cymru and said greater funding is needed to deliver its targets for Welsh football through to 2036. The plan covers national team performance, facilities, participation and investment in the women's game.
Targets for the national sides
The plan sets out measures of success between now and 2036 based on growing participation and helping the national sides “perform on the world stage”. The FAW wants the men's national side to return to the top 20 of Fifa's world rankings. Key targets for the elite game also include qualifying for every other major tournament and reaching the knock-out stages of Euro 2028 and the 2035 Women's World Cup. The FAW also wants 80% of men's and women's national team players to be regular starters in the world's top five leagues, with the men's currently at 65%. Another plan is to have two elite category club academies in Wales.
Facilities and grassroots aims
The strategy targets “quality” facilities being in place “within 15 minutes of every community” and 100 new or upgraded pitches by 2030. Projects in the 100 most deprived and diverse communities will be a priority, along with a 50% increase of priority pitch access for women and girls. Other aims include every game over under-12 level having a qualified, neutral referee, reducing the number of teenagers dropping out of football by half, growing the number of qualified coaches by a third, and taking Cymru Premier average attendances past 1,000.
Participation and the women's game
The FAW says the number of registered players went from 80,0000 to 120,0000 and now wants it to grow to 160,000, including doubling the numbers of women and girls to 40,0000. The FAW says it has developed data tracking of dual-qualified players and is continuing work on the national academies for the women's game. A specific strategy for the women and girls' game will be launched in November and will include doubling the money invested.
Funding request and Mooney's comments
A recent review suggested it would cost £150m to deliver the facilities local authority areas needed. Chief executive Noel Mooney said: “We need a lot more support.”
Mooney said: “We're very clear on the growth of the female game that we need facilities for that. We've spent more than £30million over the last four years building pitches all across the country but we've a long, long way to go.”
Mooney said: “Thankfully, our resources are increasing - which is good - but we really need more support from Welsh Government and from the 22 local authorities to deliver this.”
Mooney also said increased revenues from Fifa following the 2026 World Cup and the planned windfall from staging Euro 2028 has helped the FAW nudge towards revenues of £50m. Mooney said the current £13m for capital expenditure was “a scratch on the surface of what we need to get to”. He added: “We've got confidence. We've had a lot of discussions with the new government and they've given us all of the signals that we're going into the right direction.”