Yahoo Sports Welsh EFL clubs seek FA approval for Europe plan
Wales' four English Football League (EFL) clubs are moving closer to securing a chance to qualify for European football via a revamped Welsh League Cup, as they now only need approval from the Football Association to make their "game-changing" plan a reality.
As BBC Sport Wales revealed last October, Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham and Newport County have been working with the Football Association of Wales (FAW) on "transformational" changes which could see them play in Europe under the Welsh flag for the first time in 30 years.
Under the proposals entitled Prosiect Cymru (Project Wales), the four clubs would continue to play league and cup football in England, but sacrifice their ability to qualify for Europe via English competitions, as Swansea did when they played in the Europa League after winning the EFL Cup in 2013.
The Welsh EFL clubs' new route to Europe would be to compete against 12 teams from the Cymru Premier – Wales' top flight – in an expanded Welsh League Cup, with the winners qualifying for the Europa Conference League.
The FAW and four EFL clubs have presented their plans to Uefa, the Welsh and UK Governments and all Cymru Premier clubs. Now, to get the official green light to proceed, they must earn approval from the FA.
On Monday, the FAW outlined its vision for the revamped competition with a mission statement which said:
The new Welsh League Cup will generate at least £3m each season to be invested in "grassroots infrastructure projects, women's football, Cymru Premier clubs and FAW Tier Two clubs".
The four EFL clubs have "agreed to exclude any profit derived by representing Wales in Uefa competitions for financial regulations in the English Football League or the English Premier League".
The four clubs are "totally committed to playing in the English system" and Prosiect Cymru would not jeopardise their status in the English pyramid.
The Welsh League Cup will consist of 16 teams with four rounds of single-leg knockout matches, starting in the 2025-26 season.
There will be a review of the competition after four years "to ensure that it is delivering the intended benefits for key stakeholders, and Welsh football and society, with all options on the table if it is not".
'It's a game-changer for Welsh football'
As well as generating more money for football in Wales and raising the domestic game's profile, the FAW hopes that having the EFL clubs represent Wales in European competition could improve the country's poor Uefa coefficient ranking, currently 49th out of 55.
Welsh teams tend to struggle in Europe but, in this season's Europa Conference League, Cymru Premier champions The New Saints became the first side from the Welsh pyramid to qualify for the group stage of a major European competition.
The FAW believes Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport would improve Welsh performances in Europe, earning more prize money from Uefa which would then be redistributed in Wales.
Cymru Premier clubs, who would keep Wales' routes to Champions League and Europa League qualification, support Prosiect Cymru "unanimously" and would stand to benefit from cup ties against their EFL rivals.
And for the EFL clubs themselves, there would be the obvious appeal of playing in Europe again, three decades after Wrexham were the last team to qualify via a domestic pathway when they played in the 1995-96 Cup Winners' Cup.
Wales' EFL clubs used to qualify via the Welsh Cup and all four have achieved notable European results. Cardiff beat Real Madrid in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1971, Wrexham defeated Porto in the same competition in 1984 and Newport reached a Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final in 1981, while Swansea beat Valencia in a 2013 Europa League match.
"It's a game-changer for Welsh football," FAW chief executive Noel Mooney told BBC Sport Wales. "This really does change the revenues of Welsh football.
"This is about improving Wales and improving Welsh football. I have to thank the four top-ranked clubs in the English system for understanding that we need resources. We need better grassroots facilities, investments into the women's game.
"If people object to this idea, I really think they're holding back Wales. And why would you want to hold back Wales? What would be someone's motivation to hold back Wales as a country trying to stand on its own two feet as a football nation?"
The fate of Prosiect Cymru now rests with the FAW's English counterparts at the FA.
The two governing bodies have recently worked together on projects such as the UK and Ireland's successful bid to host Euro 2028, and Mooney hopes such collaborations will encourage the FA to approve their plans for the Welsh League Cup.
"We've had really productive and progressive discussions with the likes of Uefa, the Welsh Government, the UK Government and the FA," he added.
"When I was growing up, I suppose I thought of them [FA] as, you know, the cigar smokers and the wood panelled rooms and the blazers making decisions that maybe suit themselves. They've moved on a lot. The people at the FA now are really top operators.
"They've done a terrific job in modernising the FA so they will understand this is really good for Wales, and they'll understand there's no competitive advantage for the clubs. Anyone we've spoken to has been really positive about the concept.
"So I expect the modern English FA to make the right decision for their neighbours and for themselves and to move this forward. I think you'll find that it's a win-win for everybody. So to prevent us moving Welsh football forwards would be extremely disappointing from the FAW's perspective, and I think from a lot of stakeholders' perspective."
'Objectors want to prevent Wales from moving forward'
Prosiect Cymru's proposals have stirred impassioned debate since BBC Sport Wales first broke the story last year.
The Welsh EFL clubs have unsurprisingly extolled the virtues of the new competition, but the plans have faced resistance from former Cymru Premier players as well as supporters of some of the English clubs in the EFL.
"It's clearly not having your cake and eating it too because they [Welsh EFL clubs] would be resigning from playing in Europe through the English system," Mooney responded.
"So if you're an English club that play in the Championship, for example, you can win the Carabao Cup, you can win the FA Cup, you can go to Europe like that. They are resigning from doing that to represent their own country in European football.
"These are the four biggest cities in Wales. What other country in Europe would take out its four biggest cities to not play for them in European competition? It's depriving Wales of tens of millions of pounds, to enable kids to play on good facilities, to enable grassroots clubs to emerge, to enable the women's game to reach its full potential. It doesn't make any sense.
"When something like this happens, there's always someone who lodges objections for whatever reason that may be. But for us, the only possible objection is to deliberately prevent Wales from moving forward as a football nation."
