Wales
National Team Information
General Info
UEFA
The Dragons (Welsh: Y Dreigiau)
- Gareth Bale – Goals: 39
- Ian Rush – Goals: 28
- Trevor Ford – Goals: 22
- Dean Saunders – Goals: 22
- Ivor Allchurch – Goals: 21
Gareth Bale has cemented his status as the best Welsh player of all time and the 2022 World Cup will be his third major tournament with the Wales national football team. He’s the all-time leading scorer for the national team and has won an incredible five Champions League titles with Real Madrid. Bale was scary quick in his prime and has one of the deadliest left foots in the world.
Ian Rush was the record goalscorer for Wales until Bale came along. Rush still holds the distinction of being Liverpool’s all time leading scorer and the forward scored 28 goals for Wales in 73 appearances. While he never played in a major tournament, he scored winning goals in shock wins over Germany and Italy.
Ryan Giggs is the winningest player in the history of the Premier League. The midfielder won 13 Premier League titles with Manchester United and has the most assists in Premier League history. He scored 12 goals in 64 appearances for Wales.
John Charles is regarded as one of the best British footballing talents in history. The striker could also play as a center back and he scored the first-ever Wales World Cup goal. Charles won Golden Boots in both England and Italy and won three Serie A titles with Juventus. In honor of UEFA’s 50th anniversary, Charles was voted the best player from the Wales national football team from 1954-2003.
Aaron Ramsey became the youngest man to captain Wales at age 20 and is one of the country’s best players. Ramsey assisted Hal Robson Kanu’s match-winning goal over Slovakia at Euro 2016. The win was Wales’s first in a major tournament for 58 years. He also provided two assists in the quarterfinal win against Belgium and finished the tournament with the joint-most assists. Like Bale, the 2022 World Cup will be his third major tournament with Wales.
Wales’s only previous World Cup appearance doubles as both their best and worst performance. Their first World Cup match was a 1-1 draw vs. Hungary and legendary striker John Charles scored Wales’s first World Cup goal.
Mexico scored a late equalizer to preserve a 1-1 draw in the second match of the tournament and Ivor Allchurch was on target for Wales national football team. Despite drawing with Sweden 0-0 in their last match and Hungary defeating Mexico 4-0, Wales still qualified for the knockout stage.
Pele scored the only goal for eventual champions Brazil as they defeated Wales in the quarterfinals. Wales have never lost a group stage match heading into the 2022 World Cup.
Wales National Football Team History
Beginnings
One of the oldest national teams in world soccer, Wales played their first match in 1876. Scotland beat Wales 4-0 and Wales won their first match in 1882 against Northern Ireland.
The first Wales World Cup appearance was in 1958; the 1950s are often referred to as a “Golden Era” for Wales. They qualified in very strange circumstances, since neither Indonesia, Egypt nor Sudan would play Israel in the Asian/African qualifying zone. So, Israel were winners by default.
Lots were drawn among all the second place UEFA teams to see who would contest a playoff match with Israel for a World Cup berth. Belgium were drawn initially but refused to play, so Wales were next up. The Wales soccer team defeated Israel both home and away, thus sealing their first World Cup berth.
Draws against Hungary, Mexico and Sweden were enough for Wales to advance to the knockout stage. Star striker John Charles was injured for the quarterfinals and Pele became the youngest World Cup goalscorer, as Brazil beat Wales 1-0.
European Championship Quarterfinals
The Wales national football team made the quarterfinals of the 1976 European Championship but are not officially considered to have taken part. That’s because only four teams made the tournament at the time and Wales were eliminated by Yugoslavia in the playoff round.
During their long World Cup drought, Wales nearly qualified for the 1982 World Cup but missed out on goal difference. One of Wales’s best ever wins came in 1991 when they defeated defending World Cup champions Germany in a Euro ‘92 qualifier.
Gary Speed was appointed manager in late 2010 and Wales reached their lowest ever ranking of 117 the next August. With 20-year old Aaron Ramsey as captain, Wales rattled off four wins in their next five. Then, they moved up to 45th and became the biggest movers in the rankings that year. Tragically, Speed committed suicide in November of 2011 but helped lay the foundation for an exciting era of Welsh football.
Upping the FIFA Rankings
With exciting talents like Gareth Bale and Ramsey, Wales attained their highest-ever FIFA ranking of eighth in 2015. They also qualified for the Euros for the first time ever in 2016.
It took Bale just 10 minutes to open his scoring account at the tournament, since Wales defeated Slovakia 2-1. A 90th minute Daniel Sturridge winner sealed a 2-1 victory for England over Wales in the second match. Then, Ramsey, Neil Taylor and Bale all got on the scoresheet as they destroyed Russia 3-0 in the group stage finale.
Finishing on top of their group, Wales defeated British rivals Northern Ireland in the round of 16. After falling behind 1-0 against a talented Belgium side in the quarterfinals, Wales scored three unanswered goals to win. Following an incredible run, Wales met their demise in the semifinals against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal.
Toward the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Wales national football team qualified for a second consecutive Euro in 2020, which the COVID-19 pandemic pushed back to 2021. The Dragons finished second in their group but fell 4-0 to Denmark in the round of 16.
With wins over Austria and Ukraine in the playoff round, Wales qualified for their first World Cup since 1958 in 2022.
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