The truth behind the number of players Cardiff City and Swansea City have actually provided for Wales
Wednesday 7th November 2018
By Ian MItchelmore
Ryan Giggs jokingly highlighted the difference in the number of Swansea City and Cardiff City players currently in the Wales set-up when announcing his latest squad this week.
Swansea duo Connor Roberts and Daniel James have both been included in his plans for the double header against Denmark and Albania later this month.
But there were no Bluebirds in his 26-man squad for Wales' final two fixtures of 2018, with Jazz Richards being the only player currently in the first team at Cardiff City Stadium to have won senior caps for his country.
Speaking at his squad announcement at the Vale Resort on Monday, Giggs heaped praise on Swansea boss Graham Potter for the way he has introduced Welsh players into the first team at the Liberty Stadium before delivering a tongue-in-cheek dig at the Bluebirds.
RYAN GIGGS:
"He's doing a great job but what has been missing which helped Swansea when they were doing really well at the start is Welsh players," he said.
"They had Ben Davies, Joe Allen. Now they have got that back.
"Hopefully they are getting their heart and soul back because I think it's important to have local players.
"We just need Cardiff to start doing that now!"
But what do the numbers actually say?
We took a look over the last decade at which players have played for the national side along with Cardiff or Swansea.
Given that Cardiff academy graduate Aaron Ramsey made his international debut in 2008 against Denmark, - who Wales face at Cardiff City Stadium in the Nations League on November 16 - we used the beginning of the 2008/09 season as a starting point for this research, which gives a scope of just over 10 years.
However, as the midfielder had joined Arsenal by this point, he can't actually be included in our results, in the same way that James can't be included for the Swans as he is yet to make a senior appearance for Wales.
The same applies to three-cap goalkeeper Jason Brown who never actually played for the Bluebirds during his emergency loan spell from Blackburn Rovers in 2011, as well as Swansea centre-back Joe Rodon who - along with James - remains uncapped at senior international level.
Cardiff City and Wales players
Wales internationals to have played for Cardiff City since the start of the 2008/09 season
Craig Bellamy
Darcy Blake*
Rob Earnshaw*
Danny Gabbidon
Emyr Huws
Declan John*
Jason Koumas
Tom Lawrence
Joe Ledley*
Adam Matthews*
Paul Parry
Jazz Richards*
* denotes a player from club's academy
Total: 12 players (6 from academy)
A total of 12 Wales internationals have played for the Bluebirds since the start of the 2008/09 season.
And of that figure, exactly half were in Cardiff's academy.
Jazz Richards of course played in the academies of both Cardiff and Swansea while Declan John came through the ranks in the Welsh capital, although he is now at the Liberty.
And when you go west across the M4, the figures are remarkably similar over the same period.
Swansea City and Wales players
Wales internationals to have played for Swansea City since the start of the 2008/09 season
Joe Allen*
David Cotterill
Ben Davies*
Jermaine Easter
Declan John
Owain Tudur Jones
Andy King
Shaun MacDonald*
Jazz Richards*
Connor Roberts*
Neil Taylor
Ashley Williams
* denotes a player from club's academy
Total: 12 players (5 from academy)
From the beginning of the 2008/09 season, Swansea have also had 12 Wales internationals represent their club.
And of that number, Roberts, Richards, Ben Davies, Joe Allen and Shaun MacDonald all came through the youth system in SA1.
The Swans will almost certainly be able to add Rodon and James to that tally in the near future while Gwion Edwards - who never got to taste first team action at the Liberty - could well feature under Giggs.
Emyr Huws - who also came through the youth system at Swansea - has won 12 caps to date, although the Ipswich Town man never played first-team football for the Swans, but he did make four appearances for rivals Cardiff during the 2016/17 season.
Wales football news
And the Bluebirds do of course have young guns including Mark Harris and Cameron Coxe who will hope to feature on the international stage in the future.
So while there's clearly disparity between the Bluebirds and the Swans on the Welsh scene right now, recent history actually shows that there's been very little to choose between Wales' top two club sides when it comes to making the grade on the international scene.