Wales football team

The Wales football team is the football team of Wales or the Welsh football team. Unlike England and Scotland, the Welsh football team is not the most followed version of the game. In Wales, the Welsh rugby team is the most followed. In this circumstance, it is not surprising that the Welsh football team is usually ranked lower than the English and Scottish teams.

Recently, the team has been more highly ranked. The team recorded the biggest rise in the history of the FIFA World Rankings, moving from 117th in 2011 to 8th place in 2015. They are also the smallest nation by population to ever reach the semi-finals of the UEFA European Championship, after reaching the UEFA Euro 2016 semi-finals.

In April 2017, Jess Fishlock became the first player to earn 100 caps for the Wales national football team.

Most appearances
Men's team

RankPlayerYearsCapsGoals1Gareth Bale2006–2022111412Chris Gunter2007–20221090Wayne Hennessey2007–present10904Neville Southall1982–19979205Ashley Williams2008–2019862Ben Davies2012–present8626Gary Speed1990–20048578Aaron Ramsey2008–present84219Craig Bellamy1998–2013781910Joe Ledley2005–2018774

Women's team

#PlayerYearsCapsGoals1 Jess Fishlock  2006–present  149  422 Sophie Ingle  2009–present  120  33 Loren Dykes  2007–2021  105  34 Helen Ward  2008–2023  105  445 Angharad James  2011–present  102  46 Tash Harding  2008–present  100  26

Top scorers
Men's team
 (players still active in bold):

#NameGoalsMatchesAverage1Gareth Bale411112Ian Rush 28733Trevor Ford2338Ivor Allchurch23685Dean Saunders22756Aaron Ramsey21847Craig Bellamy19788Robert Earnshaw1659Cliff Jones1659Mark Hughes1672

Women's team
 (players still active in bold):

#NameGoalsMatchesAverage1Helen Ward441052Jess Fishlock42149

Managers
Prior to 1954 the Welsh team was chosen by a panel of selectors with the team captain fulfilling the role of coach.
NameCareer Walley Barnes1954–1955 Jimmy Murphy1956–1964 Dave Bowen1964–1974 Ronnie Burgess1965 (caretaker manager for one match due to unavailability of Dave Bowen) Mike Smith1974–1979 Mike England1979–1987 David Williams1988 (caretaker manager for one match) Terry Yorath1988–1993 John Toshack1994 Mike Smith1994–1995 Bobby Gould1995–1999 Neville Southall1999 (caretaker manager for one match) Mark Hughes1999–2004 John Toshack2004–2010 Brian Flynn2010 (caretaker manager for two matches) Gary Speed2010–2011 Chris Coleman2012–present

References

Category:European national football teams
Category:Football in Wales
Category:Sports organisations of Wales