How Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport could return to European football

Wales’ quartet of EFL clubs all boast famous European nights, albeit most of them are now sepia-tinged due to the passage of time.

For Wrexham fans, there was knocking heavyweights Porto out of the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup, 40 years ago last week.

For Cardiff City, it was their 1971 first-leg triumph over Real Madrid in the same competition.

For Swansea City, their three-goal away demolition of Valencia in the Europa League in 2013.

Mention the start of the 1980s to those of a Newport County persuasion and they inevitably think of the club’s stirring run to the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup before bowing out to its eventual runners-up, Carl Zeiss Jena of East Germany.

All nights to make Welsh football proud, and occasions that could be coming back after the BBC revealed talks are underway over a possible return route to European competition for those four clubs, who play their domestic football over the border in the English league system.

As part of a shake-up of the domestic game in Wales, plans are afoot for Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport to enter the Welsh League Cup, alongside the current Cymru Premier (Welsh Premier League) clubs. The winners, if the proposal is agreed by the Football Association (FA), Football Association of Wales (FAW) and UEFA, the European game’s governing body, would compete at continental level in the following season’s Conference League.

For Phil Parkinson, the Wrexham manager, the prospect is an exciting one. “To bring European football back to Wrexham would be amazing,” he says. “Great to test yourself against teams from different countries around Europe. Be fantastic to have that opportunity.”

But how realistic is this plan? What are the pros and cons? And when could it happen?

The Athletic spoke to football figures on either side of the Anglo-Welsh border, all on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, to try to find the answers.

Can this really happen?

Speak to those pushing for change and there’s a sense it could be given the go-ahead before the end of this calendar year, meaning Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport would enter next season’s Welsh League Cup, and its winners would enter the 2026-27  Conference League, UEFA’s third-tier club competition.

This timetable may prove ambitious however, primarily due to existing commercial and broadcast contracts not expiring until the end of next season. The FAW may also prefer such a change to be part of the major relaunch for the Cymru Premier that starts in 2026-27.

Informal discussions began 18 or so months ago among some of the Welsh EFL contingent. Swansea, of the second-tier Championship, then commissioned a report from Deloitte that was used to make the case covering all manner of topics, including distribution of income.

Separately, the FAW carried out a strategic review of its own in 2022 to explore how to strengthen the domestic game. All 12 domestic top-flight clubs were canvassed and the result is the planned relaunch in two years’ time, which will include an expansion of the Cymru Premier to 16 teams.

How the League Cup will look as part of this new dawn is yet to be confirmed.

At the moment, a knockout competition in its 33rd season is open to all clubs in the top two tiers of Welsh football, plus four ‘wild card’ entries that in 2024-25 have been filled by the under-21s sides of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, plus Merthyr Town, who also compete across the border in the Southern Premier League (tier seven of the English pyramid).

There’s no European place currently on offer to the winners of the Welsh League Cup and crowds for it are low — last season’s final between The New Saints (TNS) and Swansea’s under-21s side attracted just 711 spectators. Hence a revamped competition featuring the four EFL clubs with the ultimate prize of playing in Europe is a selling point used by those pushing for the change.

Last month saw those plans outlined at a meeting of the Cymru Premier clubs in Llandudno by Andy Coleman, the Swansea chairman. A two-page summary of Deloitte’s report ‘Prosiect Cymru’ — Project Wales — was also distributed.

Why did some teams stop representing Wales in Europe?

From 1961 to 1995, the winners of the Welsh Cup — which was open to all clubs in Wales plus a few invitees from towns and cities short distances over the border with England — would compete in the following season’s Cup Winners’ Cup.

If an English side won the Welsh Cup, then the runners-up would go forward as Wales’ representative, as happened most recently in 1990 when Hereford United won the final but Wrexham faced Manchester United over two legs in Europe the following season.

Change came following a revamp of the domestic game.

The League of Wales was formed in 1992 to bring an end to a previous north-south domestic split. The argument put forward by the FAW at the time was that clubs playing in the Welsh pyramid should represent the country in Europe, meaning Cardiff, Swansea and the others competing in the English leagues were out.

A place in the Cup Winners’ Cup remained the prize until that competition was abolished in 1999, after which the winners went into the UEFA Cup (now the Europa League). For the past couple of seasons, lifting the Welsh Cup has earned a place in the Europa Conference League.

How would Cymru Premier clubs benefit from the change?

Money, basically. Plus a major shot in the arm, interest-wise, from the wider sporting public at a time when the league is about to undergo a big relaunch.

The most immediate benefit would be increased attendances for Welsh League Cup ties involving Wrexham, Cardiff, Swansea and Newport in a competition where two of last season’s regional quarter-finals were watched by just 156 and 140 fans respectively.

Cymru Premier champions The New Saints played Serie A’s Fiorentina in the UEFA Conference League last week (Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)

Getting more paying punters through the turnstiles, however, isn’t the biggest potential financial boost for a competition where the vast majority of competing clubs are part-time.

Instead, the suggestion is that a proportion of any income derived from both the revamped Welsh League Cup and the Conference League should go into a pool that is distributed among Cymru Premier clubs.

In the case of the League Cup, this will primarily be gate receipts. For Europe, however, a proportion of gate receipts and prize money is likely to be on the table. That way, should Swansea or fellow Championship side Cardiff progress through the Conference League group stage and land a glamour tie against one of the elite, everyone back in Wales benefits as well.

With prize money for reaching the league phase in the revamped 2024-25 format set by UEFA at €3.17million (£2.7m/$3.5m) and each victory worth another €400,000, we are talking pretty serious money.

There’s also the financial benefit attached to a country’s co-efficient ranking, with UEFA handing over a bigger slice of funding to the better-performing leagues.

At the moment, Wales is ranked 50th out of 55 European nations, meaning only the top divisions in North Macedonia, Belarus, Andorra, Gibraltar and San Marino are deemed to be of a lower standard. A primary reason for Wales’ weak rating is the poor performances of its clubs in European competition.

Should the likes of Cardiff and Swansea, both recent members of the Premier League, or ambitious Wrexham, currently second in third-tier League One after back-to-back promotions, be playing on Wales’ behalf from 2026 or 2027 onwards, chances are the co-efficient ranking will improve markedly — which will mean more income from UEFA for the FAW to distribute across the wider Welsh game, including grassroots facilities, academies and women’s football.

How do the quartet of Welsh EFL clubs benefit?

Money is again a big positive. But so too is the potential of regular European football.

Since the Welsh Cup route was closed to those competing in the English pyramid, only Swansea have qualified for Europe via the route open to teams in that format — final Premier League position or winning the League Cup or FA Cup.

That came in 2013, when a 5-0 victory against Bradford City in the League Cup final earned a Europa League spot. Swansea, competing under the English league banner, advanced to the knockout stage, eventually being eliminated by Napoli in the round of 32.

The Swansea starting XI that beat Valencia 3-0 in 2013 (David Ramos/Getty Images)

Otherwise, there have been a couple of near misses for Cardiff, who were twice one game away from qualifying after reaching the 2008 FA Cup final and the League Cup final four years later, only to lose both against Portsmouth and (on penalties) Liverpool.

Wrexham would also benefit via their acclaimed documentary show.

Filming for season four of Welcome To Wrexham, long considered the club’s biggest commercial weapon due to the spotlight it affords blue-chips sponsors such as United Airlines, is underway. It remains to be seen whether broadcasters FX and Disney will commission further seasons, but the prospect of Wrexham’s first foray into European competition for almost 30 years would likely help sell it to TV executives.

What are the downsides for the EFL quartet and their Cymru Premier brethren?

There’s understandable consternation among some in the Cymru Premier over clubs who play their domestic football outside the country potentially claiming one of Wales’ prized European places.

With that allocation set to be reduced by UEFA from four to just three for 2025-26 due to Wales’ poor co-efficient ranking (albeit only temporarily, with TNS reaching the league stage this time around meaning the previous allocation is likely to be restored the following season), that dissent is only likely to grow.

As for the EFL’s four Welsh clubs, they would continue to play league football in England, and compete in the League Cup, FA Cup and EFL Trophy. But the ability to qualify for Europe via the first three of those competitions would have to be sacrificed, as UEFA do not allow clubs to have routes via two different national associations.

This explains why FC Vaduz, a Liechtenstein-based club who play in the Swiss League, can only qualify for Europe via their own domestic cup in a tiny country with a population of just 39,000. Should second-tier Vaduz ever win the Swiss Super League or Swiss Cup, they would not be allowed to take up the accompanying prize of European football.

For Wrexham, unlikely as the prospect may seem today, the possibility of competing in the Champions League would be ruled out in a similar way. Their Hollywood star co-owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have made no secret of their ambition to one day reach the Premier League so this will, in effect, be giving up the ultimate dream scenario.

Likewise, should Swansea repeat that League Cup final success of 11 years ago, then they would miss out on Europe unless they won the Welsh League Cup as well.

A possibly more pertinent headache for managers is fixture congestion. Not just in terms of squeezing the Welsh League Cup matches into an already busy schedule but also Conference League duties the following season, should their club then qualify.

With several qualifying rounds spread across the summer months and then the league phase featuring six games primarily played in midweeks currently set aside for EFL fixtures, there’s a danger of a Welsh team having to play catch-up in their domestic league every season.

A reminder of Newport’s European adventure at their Rodney Parade ground (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

How about rival clubs in the EFL?

On the surface, there doesn’t seem much to concern the 68 English clubs currently playing in the three divisions of the EFL. But any financial windfall from playing in Europe would have ramifications, particularly if, say, Newport were the first qualifiers via next season’s Welsh League Cup.

The last financial accounts available for the League Two club reveal annual revenue stood at £3.4million in 2022-23. Imagine the difference an extra £1m-£2m on the balance sheet from a decent Conference League run might make in the EFL’s basement division.

Even in the Championship, one rung down from the Premier League, there would be a competitive advantage to be had for Cardiff or Swansea if, say, they qualified two or three years in a row, and their spending power would increase accordingly.

What about the authorities?

Neither the FAW, FA or UEFA were willing to comment publicly, while an EFL spokesperson said it continues to “monitor developments” and “will discuss any potential implications for the EFL and its 72 member clubs with the board”.

So what next?

We wait to hear more, as do those who could be impacted. Newport midfielder Bryn Morris knew nothing about it until speaking to The Athletic earlier this week.

“That shocks me,” says the 28-year-old. “I don’t know how a League Two team could have a route into Europe. But it would be a real good opportunity, wouldn’t it?”

Parkinson, one of the game’s more experienced managers with just shy of 1,000 games to his name, agrees. “We had possible European qualification in our minds at Bradford City during the run to the (2013) League Cup final,” he says, of that eventual loss to Swansea at Wembley. “It sounded mad, as a League Two club, to even be thinking it.

“But those talks suddenly became serious when we got to the semis. It didn’t happen in the end, but imagine what it would have been like to take Bradford City into Europe? It would be great to achieve that with Wrexham and write another chapter in the story.”

GO DEEPER

Ex-Wrexham players on their 1984 win vs Porto: ‘The whole ground fell silent. Total silence’

(Top photo: Swansea supporters in Valencia in 2013; David Ramos via Getty Images)