Why Wales’ EFL clubs are eyeing Europe via Welsh League Cup

Pro… A much easier route into Europe

The English-based clubs and the FAW have already presented their vision – Prosiect Cymru, Welsh for Project Wales – to Uefa, the Football Association, Premier League and clubs in the Cymru Premier, Wales’ domestic top flight.

Central to those presentations has been an extensive independent report into the venture by Deloitte, which was commissioned by Swansea on behalf of the four EFL clubs and the FAW.

It should come as no surprise that the talks are being driven by Swansea, because the benefit for Swansea, Cardiff, Wrexham and Newport is extremely obvious, the promise of regular European football.

Until the early 1990s, all four clubs had been semi-regular competitors in European competitions and the allure of playing Europa Conference League group games against the likes of Fiorentina – as TNS will do this week – is an extremely attractive prospect for four clubs currently outside the Premier League.

Former Wales and Swansea striker Ian Walsh says playing in Europe with Swansea was one of his career highlights.

“I was involved heavily when I was back here with Swansea, we played European Cup matches, Cup Winners’ Cup, they were great adventures and we had some great teams and some great players that came to play against us over the couple of years that I was involved,” he said.

“If you look at the bigger picture it will be a fantastic. If you’re Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham or Newport and you’ve got a European match playing at your home ground against a decent side.”

Con… European success would be capped and a long summer will await

Although Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport would continue to play league football in England, this move would mean sacrificing 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.

Cardiff have also come within one game (after losing the 2008 FA Cup final) and a penalty shoot-out (after losing the 2012 League Cup final) of qualifying for the Europa League.

Wrexham, currently in League One but owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are chasing a third successive promotion and could be in the Championship next season.

The ambitious north Wales club are targeting a place in the Premier League and it is far from inconceivable that they, or Swansea or Cardiff, could qualify for the Europa or Champions League sometime in the future.

However, should this agreement be ratified, the English-pyramid Welsh clubs would have essentially capped their European potential, meaning an FA Cup or EFL Cup victory would be meaningless in terms of European qualification.

Indeed, one of the Welsh clubs could win one of those competitions and not play in Europe at all, the following season, if they failed to win the Welsh League Cup.

And even if they do qualify… a long summer of trying qualify for the group stages of the Conference League might also be an issue.

This season qualifying began on July 10 and while it is hoped the involvement of the EFL clubs could improve Wales’ standing in Uefa’s association club coefficients, from 50th to “40th or higher”, the current low coefficient would mean an early start for qualifying.

Wales’ current ranking of 50 out of 55 means only the top divisions in San Marino, Gibraltar, Andorra, Belarus and North Macedonia are ranked lower in Europe.