By Paul Jones Danny Ward insists that, as fans, the Wales players know exactly how heavy the weight of history feels as they prepare to qualify for a first World Cup finals for over half a century. The squad preparing to face their World Cup play-off final date next weekend hope to make history by […]

Football is now more popular in Wales than rugby. How do we know this? Because the Football Association of Wales told us so yesterday after some expensive piece of research. Except, as Daniel Parker points out, the truth is not quite so black and white and should certainly require a little more humility – on both sides. Another week, another tiresome round of Twitter squabbles on whether rugby or football is truly the national sport of Wales. The instinctive reaction should be to avoid these fractious arguments with a bargepole.

By Harry Corish Welsh football fans will continue to watch free to air coverage of the national team in the Welsh language, thanks to a deal struck with S4C. S4C has secured exclusive UK free-to-air broadcast rights to show the Wales football team’s matches from 2022 to 2024. An agreement was in doubt when UEFA […]

Wales manager Rob Page has offered to personally build Gareth Bale his own statue – even if the World Cup qualifier turns out to be his final game for his country. Bale has not played much football at Madrid this season, but his big game ability and undoubted quality mean that he is an outsider to potentially be the man to break Liverpool hearts once more, in what would be a fitting end to a trophy laden time in the Spanish capital when the Champins League final takes place on Saturday. Despite his success, the Madrid media, fans and those at the top have often used the Welsh legend as a scapegoat for financial and scouting mishaps made by those in charge.

Football has overtaken rugby as the most popular sport in Wales, the Football Association of Wales have claimed. The governing body have released a report which they say proves that football has swapped places with rugby as the sport most people in Wales are both interested in and participate in. “Football interest has continued to increase since research in Wales was first conducted in 2016,” say the FAW in a statement.

Like all good Hollywood-backed scripts, there have been some surprising twists in what many hope will be a blockbuster season for Wrexham AFC. The plot seemed pretty simple to follow. In a country they had never heard of, Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny buy a non-league football club they had never heard of and use their millions to re-establish the club in the football league.

Wales’ potential World Cup play-off opponents, Scotland, are praying captain Andy Robertson comes through the Champions League final unscathed on Saturday. Robertson is expected to start for Liverpool against Real Madrid in Paris for what could be the Reds’ seventh Champions League win or Madrid’s 14th. The left-back will line up for the Reds in Europe’s showpiece match on Saturday, meaning he will not join up with the national squad until Sunday or Monday.

Gareth Bale has been backed by Davide Ancelotti to bow out with yet another trophy when Real Madrid face Liverpool in the Champions League Final at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday. Bale scored twice for Real against Liverpool in 2018, and the Wales captain has won the Champions League four times during his nine years in Spain. The talisman who will carry his nation’s hope of World Cup play-off glory next weekend scored one of the greatest goals in Champions League history in the 2018 final – a glorious overhead kick past the helpless Loris Karius, not long after coming off the bench.

By Harry Corish Wales Manager, Robert Page, has invited David Brooks to join Wales’ training camp for their June fixtures following his announcement that he is all-clear after undergoing cancer treatment.  After Brooks was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin Lymphoma back in October, football fans from across the world rallied around the Welsh youngster and […]

By Harry Corish Wales’ Head Coach, Robert Page, insists he still has full confidence in Aaron Ramsey after the Welsh playmaker missed a crucial penalty in the Rangers Europa League final defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt. Ramsey, known for his stellar performances in the big games, was unable to help Rangers lift the Europa league when […]

Wales may be about to have their first shot at World Cup glory in 64 years, but manager Robert Page, is already looking to a future built around the likes of Bennan Johnson. As Page prepares for the do-or-die play-off against either Scotland or Ukraine, he also has a mind on the younger generation. The caretaker boss – whose own deal with Wales only runs as far as the end of the World Cup campaign – has heaped praise on fit-again Kieffer Moore, and believes he can bring something different to the team, but has stressed the importance of preparing the younger players in the squad for the future of Welsh football.

By Gareth James Aaron Ramsey has been defended by Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst after the Wales midfielde’s missed penalty cost the club the Europa League Trophy. Ramsey – who will be named in the Wales squad on Thursday for the World Cup play-off clash against either Scotland or Ukraine – was distraught after Eintracht […]

By Gareth James Steve Cooper has taken Nottingham Forest to the brink of a return to the Premier League after they won a dramatic penalty shoot-out against Sheffield United to reach the Championship play-off final. The Welsh manager and his team looked to be in a commanding position after the first leg when they came […]

It’s coming. D-day for Wales in their bid to make the World Cup finals. But few things are certain about this fixture, including the eventual full starting team that manager Robert Page will plump for. Daniel Parker reckons nine are nailed on, but two more will keep us guessing . . . and arguing. Sunday 5th June – it’s getting a bit close for comfort now, isn’t it? We’re less than three weeks away from Wales men’s golden opportunity to end 64 years of hurt by qualifying for a World Cup, and there remain a host of Rusmfeldian “known unknowns” in play.

Sophie Ingle will celebrate her Double triumph with Chelsea by trying to break the attendance record for a Wales women’s international later this year. The Wales captain helped her club lift the Women’s FA Cup at the weekend when they overcame Manchester City 3-2 at Wembley after extra time. It followed the club’s historic third successive Women’s Super League title clinched last weekend, a Double accomplishment of which Ingle has been a key part.

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson insists even if his club fail to get a Hollywood ending to their promotion push, they will not be left on the cutting room floor. Parkinson has got used to cameras everywhere he goes as the manager working for A-listers and joint owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The perfect script would be for Wrexham to win the National League title and return to the EFL after 14 years away by winning at Dagenham and Redbridge on the final day of the regular campaign.

Steve Cooper insists he and his Nottingham Forest side will not be burdened by the weight of history as they prepare to face Sheffield United in the first leg of their Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final at Bramall Lane on Saturday. The Welshman will lead a club that has not featured in the Premier League this century, an absence keenly felt in a city steeped in the traditions of Brian Clough and his all-conquering sides that swept to back-to-back European Cup wins in 1979 and 1980. Expectations have been raised again by the club’s extraordinary rise since former Swansea City boss Cooper’s arrival at the City Ground in September, but the Pontypridd native is adamant that history must only be seen as a positive as they look to take the first steps towards a return to the game’s elite.

Dai Young insists both Cardiff Rugby and the Dragons have a duty to produce an entertaining affair at Rodney Parade on Friday night following the downbeat mood which seems to have settled over Welsh rugby. The two sides will face each other in Newport in the final United Rugby Championship derby of the season, with all of the Welsh regions having failed to make the play-offs. But with Young still believing his men will take on a motivated Dragons side, he knows his own team will need to be at their best in order to claim a derby win.

Roy Hodgson believes Watford have taken a “sensible” direction with the appointment of former Wales international Rob Edwards as the club’s new manager. The Hornets announced that Edwards, 39, would leave Forest Green Rovers to take charge at the end of the season, bringing Hodgson’s short-term tenure in charge at Vicarage Road to an end. But, speaking after a much-depleted side had held Everton to a goalless draw, the 74-year-old wished his successor all the best, and said: “I think the direction is really quite a sensible one.

Dan James “feels terrible” over the red card that has ruled the Wales star out of Leeds United’s crucial Premier League run-in. Leeds manager Jesse Marsch revealed James’s regret over his lunge at Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic during Wednesday night’s 3-0 home defeat for the Yorkshire club at Elland Road. Replays showed James made contact with the ball first, but was off the ground and out of control when his foot then struck Kovacic’s shin.