Wales National Team Trophy Cabinet & Accolades History
The Wales national football team has been around for a long time. The team is the third oldest football international team, their foundation in 1876 is predated by only Scotland (1873) and England (1863). In that time Wales has not had an overly illustrious history full of major trophies but nonetheless they have had several achievements to be proud of.
Starting with now Ancient History - The British Home Championship
Number of Wins : 12
Runner-up : 15
Many of us may not know about this tournament even if it was around for 100 years (1884 - 1984). The last edition of the British Home Championship - or as many of us in the UK called it the “International Championship” - was played in the 80s. This tournament was played by teams from the UK only (England, Wales, Scotland & Ireland).
European Tournaments (UEFA European Championship)
Appearances : 2
Best finish : Semi-finalist 2016
The UEFA EU Championship is a tournament held between qualifying European nations that first compete in qualifications to make it. Wales has managed to surpass the qualification phase twice in their history and in 2016 had an amazing run that was sadly ended in the semi-finals.
That year Wales exceeded expectations, knocked out a Belgium in the quarter finals and inspired our nation. The team was led back then by Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey - some of the best players to come out of the country.
The Big One - The FIFA World Cup
Appearances : 2
Best finish : Quarter-finalist 1958
Well, this is the one every nation and international football team dreams of. Wales has only made it the World Cup twice, once in 1958 and then again in 2022. Our history in this tournament is small but in 1958 the Wales National Team progressed past the group stages and represented the country in the quarter-finals against Brazil. A little piece of history happened that day as well, as Pele scored his very first goal with Brazil against Wales’ in that 1-0 defeat.
The last time the national team played in the tournament was in 2022 which was the last edition of the cup as of the day of this writing. The team finished bottom of the group that year and was eliminated in the group stages.
All stats have been fact checked on Sports Loci
[ Main photo embedded from faw cymru ]