BREAKING: Plans for the Welsh League Cup have been revealed.

BREAKING: Plans for the Welsh League Cup have been revealed.

Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, and Wrexham would participate in a 16-team knockout competition, alongside 12 Cymru Premier clubs.

The winner qualifies for Europe. All that is needed now is approval from the English

Can't see the FA allowing that, competition prize money and a chance to play in Europe will give us an advantage off signing players so other teams will kick up a fuss about it

I do understand the concerns but every club has a location advantage. Wigan pick up the odd player from Man City. Tranmere pick up the odd player from Liverpool or Everton. Our location advantage is that we can possibly play in europe.

Its all well and good saying we have extra money to buy players - but will players want to come to us under the present regime.

Absolutely dreadful idea. All for the sake of money. Just more games in a crowded league fixture list. If we are in the English league we should not be able to place in a Welsh cup competition. You can’t have it all. I’m sure we are all licking our lips after possibly playing Leeds United and Sunderland the week after we have a home game against Bala Town. Really !!!!

Thought the EFL have already said No to the idea due to scheduling etc.

Here is the article on the FAW website.

https://faw.cymru/news/welsh-football-set-for-3m-boost-from-proposed-league-cup-reforms/

I am encouraged by the line which says collaboration and cooperation ahead of 2028.

I see that the fact that the English Football invests £327m into grass roots football whereas the Welsh only invests £17m. I see it as encouraging that the English FA believes it has an obligation to help redress that difference and appear happy to assist.

Lisa Nandy (My local MP) is the Secretary of State for the Culture Media and Sport and I understand she has an interest in improving grass roots football across England Scotland and Wales and as the UK government provide a lot of assistance to the English FA. I am sure substantial encouragement (Persuasion) will be given to the English FA to suggest that it might not be a good idea to put a spanner in the works.

Thought the EFL have already said No to the idea due to scheduling etc.

Yhe clubs are not OK with idea saying we will have an advantage when comes to extra money from Europe..... can't see efl approving it if comes to vote

Thought the EFL have already said No to the idea due to scheduling etc.

Yhe clubs are not OK with idea saying we will have an advantage when comes to extra money from Europe..... can't see efl approving it if comes to vote

I think some EFL clubs are not ok with it. But I think the four welsh EFL sides have confirmed that any European money will not be used for UK FFP rules - so there remains an even playing field there.

The only other advantage could be what is available for transfer funds. But, I think this is a bit of a red herring. We might have an extra £1m to spend on a player but that said there will still be clubs who, by virtue of parashoot payments, have an extra £30-40m to spend on transfers.

Yes it will give us a little bit of an advantage but I dont think it will give us the sort of advantage to really shout out about.

I personally think that the English FA will approve it. Particularly as it receives a huge amount of money from central government. Since its inception central government has invested £780m across 1600 projects for grass roots football. Accordingly, I am sure there will be a substantial amount of pursuasion put on the English FA to approve this plan for Wales - so that we can fund our own grass roots program.

I personally think the plan will be approved.

Have always said the advantage we would gain over other Championship clubs, makes this a no go.

The only way this may be considered is if we do not play in the English League Cup perhaps.

I’ve said it before and I state again: Be very careful looking this particular gift horse in the mouth…

It simply doesn’t make sense where the four English League clubs are allowed to participate in Europe via what the English teams on the same level would call ‘an unfair advantage’

We used to play regularly in Europe and they were always enjoyable occasions (who could ever forget the Real Madrid game?) but that was taken off us to preserve our ‘English’ status and stop the frankly abysmal FAW (nee Alun Evans) from taking us all into the League of Wales

For me, it should be a non-starter, IF staying in the English pyramid is the key objective…!

I think it will be unfair on Merthyr if they are not allowed to enter this new competition if it goes ahead.

Thought the EFL have already said No to the idea due to scheduling etc.

Yhe clubs are not OK with idea saying we will have an advantage when comes to extra money from Europe..... can't see efl approving it if comes to vote

I think some EFL clubs are not ok with it. But I think the four welsh EFL sides have confirmed that any European money will not be used for UK FFP rules - so there remains an even playing field there.

The only other advantage could be what is available for transfer funds. But, I think this is a bit of a red herring. We might have an extra £1m to spend on a player but that said there will still be clubs who, by virtue of parashoot payments, have an extra £30-40m to spend on transfers.

Yes it will give us a little bit of an advantage but I dont think it will give us the sort of advantage to really shout out about.

I personally think that the English FA will approve it. Particularly as it receives a huge amount of money from central government. Since its inception central government has invested £780m across 1600 projects for grass roots football. Accordingly, I am sure there will be a substantial amount of pursuasion put on the English FA to approve this plan for Wales - so that we can fund our own grass roots program.

I personally think the plan will be approved.

Could be right about limited advantages of being in Europe financially but it could just be the perception of the extra money... it is of benefit to faw and the Welsh league no doubt about that! But whether faw can persuade Welsh league clubs and efl ones it's OK is another matter.

Can't see the FA allowing that, competition prize money and a chance to play in Europe will give us an advantage off signing players so other teams will kick up a fuss about it

So they should as well.

Imagine Plymouth, Exeter and Torquay were able to enter some cup which gave them possible entry into Europe. Ridiculous.

If we have a guarantee, from the EFL, that our position within the English Pyramid will not be affected then surely this has to be a good idea??

People are overreacting a bit to this.

First of all, the four Welsh clubs will NOT be thrown out of the EFL.

It requires FA approval and if the FA say it means we'd have to leave the English pyramid, it won't happen.

Second, if people actually read what's been said, we would exclude any profit we got from UEFA competition for our EFL financial regulations.

So really it is just down to what the FA say. If it happens, great. If not, it will soon be forgotten.

But the scaremongering that it would mean us leaving the English pyramid is not only unhelpful, but also categorically untrue.

Put a Champions league place in it lol

Put a Champions league place in it lol

Extra place in europe for welsh league will be created due to uefa coefficient rules....

People are overreacting a bit to this.

First of all, the four Welsh clubs will NOT be thrown out of the EFL.

It requires FA approval and if the FA say it means we'd have to leave the English pyramid, it won't happen.

Second, if people actually read what's been said, we would exclude any profit we got from UEFA competition for our EFL financial regulations.

So really it is just down to what the FA say. If it happens, great. If not, it will soon be forgotten.

But the scaremongering that it would mean us leaving the English pyramid is not only unhelpful, but also categorically untrue.

.

Spot on. Lots of comments from people who haven't bothered to read the article and just seeing the headline and commenting. I can see that the 4 EFL clubs would give up UEFA payments for qualifying and progressing through rounds to be redistributed to FAW grassroots football but I'd assume that the 4 EFL clubs would get to keep their share gate receipts from games otherwise how would we cover the cost of hosting and traveling to games

I'm dead against this idea for the reasons that have been mentioned. We were invited to play in the football league which is now the EFL and that's where we should have our loyalty. If we someday get into the top 4 of the Premier League then we can compete in the CL and that's what we should aim for.
I don't want the EFL to tell us if we want to enter Welsh cup comps then we should play all our football in Wales, and that would be a disaster.
I can remember some great European ties in the 60's and 70's when we seemed to be in it every year, but those days are gone now and our path into European competition should be from the English pyramid as the Jacks did.

So as I read it we will hand over any income other than costs incurred for staging home games and travelling expenses for away games, while trying to fit in midweek games in weeks that already have midweek games(of which there are many weeks), therefore risking more chances of injuries and fatigue through travelling etc for no profit that would offset some of the losses that we are incurring. I get that we are trying to improve the standard of Welsh football, but unless I have misread the article, I think it's bloody fraught with danger to us fighting a relegation battle every year due to the pressure of the amount of games we could potentially be playing. Please put me right if I have misread the article

I’ve said it before and I state again: Be very careful looking this particular gift horse in the mouth…

It simply doesn’t make sense where the four English League clubs are allowed to participate in Europe via what the English teams on the same level would call ‘an unfair advantage’

We used to play regularly in Europe and they were always enjoyable occasions (who could ever forget the Real Madrid game?) but that was taken off us to preserve our ‘English’ status and stop the frankly abysmal FAW (nee Alun Evans) from taking us all into the League of Wales

For me, it should be a non-starter, IF staying in the English pyramid is the key objective…!

I couldn't agree more. I am not saying it will happen but people are very naive if they think that it might not result in resentment and the eventual slippery slope to the Cymru Premier League. We need to nail our colours to the mast of the English system and do nothing to endanger this. Let sleeping dogs lie.

The only way I see this being fair is inviting a few English clubs of the same standard. I know we did have some English clubs playing in the old welsh cup. I would love to see the European nights back, but not at the cost of loosing our place in the English system.

If we played our FA Cup game against Sheffield at home I doubt we'd get 5K, what did we get for Premier League Southampton in the league cup.
I can't be barely arsed to turn up for championship games, no chance for Bala town

The only way I see this being fair is inviting a few English clubs of the same standard. I know we did have some English clubs playing in the old welsh cup. I would love to see the European nights back, but not at the cost of loosing our place in the English system.

Been done before; it was called ‘The Welsh Cup’

Teams like Shrewsbury, Hereford and others were allowed to play in it but, if I recall properly, were not allowed to ‘represent’ Wales should they win it

It was one of the reasons they were eventually dropped from the cup and it eventually fell apart when the FAW (led by the aforementioned late Alun Evans) started their quest to ‘localise’ football in the Principality

Those of us who remember the whole debacle will recall the turmoil the whole sorry saga created, whereby some Welsh non-League clubs in the English pyramid were forced to play their ‘home’ games in England for some seasons before some crumbled and joined the League of Wales, others folded, and only one (Merthyr Tydfil) remained

They were known as the ‘exiles’; a name still synonymous with Newport County

It stopped our lower league clubs potentially progressing through to the EFL, ruined some clubs, and equally importantly, stopped our better referees from any path to Premier League (I believe Keith Cooper was the last in a very good line of top division referees over many many years)

For me, the Bluebirds should stay out of this ‘cup’ and concentrate on their ‘bread and butter’ of the EFL and (hopefully) Premier League as their sole priority

The FAW are not our ‘friends’

Lets make the shortest list in the world.

"What good has the FAW done for Cardiff City and Welsh football?"

Its batshit crazy!

If we win it (we wouldn't), then long-distance travels to Latvia, Romania or if we are very lucky Ireland early July in front of 3k..... Amazing

The only way I see this being fair is inviting a few English clubs of the same standard. I know we did have some English clubs playing in the old welsh cup. I would love to see the European nights back, but not at the cost of loosing our place in the English system.

Been done before; it was called ‘The Welsh Cup’

Teams like Shrewsbury, Hereford and others were allowed to play in it but, if I recall properly, were not allowed to ‘represent’ Wales should they win it

It was one of the reasons they were eventually dropped from the cup and it eventually fell apart when the FAW (led by the aforementioned late Alun Evans) started their quest to ‘localise’ football in the Principality

Those of us who remember the whole debacle will recall the turmoil the whole sorry saga created, whereby some Welsh non-League clubs in the English pyramid were forced to play their ‘home’ games in England for some seasons before some crumbled and joined the League of Wales, others folded, and only one (Merthyr Tydfil) remained

They were known as the ‘exiles’; a name still synonymous with Newport County

It stopped our lower league clubs potentially progressing through to the EFL, ruined some clubs, and equally importantly, stopped our better referees from any path to Premier League (I believe Keith Cooper was the last in a very good line of top division referees over many many years)

For me, the Bluebirds should stay out of this ‘cup’ and concentrate on their ‘bread and butter’ of the EFL and (hopefully) Premier League as their sole priority

The FAW are not our ‘friends’

I remember going to Cardiff v Hednesford final at the old arms park, there was a pretty good turnout for that game. I have to agree with you though, we should just stay out of it.

I’ve said it before and I state again: Be very careful looking this particular gift horse in the mouth…

It simply doesn’t make sense where the four English League clubs are allowed to participate in Europe via what the English teams on the same level would call ‘an unfair advantage’

We used to play regularly in Europe and they were always enjoyable occasions (who could ever forget the Real Madrid game?) but that was taken off us to preserve our ‘English’ status and stop the frankly abysmal FAW (nee Alun Evans) from taking us all into the League of Wales

For me, it should be a non-starter, IF staying in the English pyramid is the key objective…!

I couldn't agree more. I am not saying it will happen but people are very naive if they think that it might not result in resentment and the eventual slippery slope to the Cymru Premier League. We need to nail our colours to the mast of the English system and do nothing to endanger this. Let sleeping dogs lie.

I agree with you and Sven

Lets make the shortest list in the world.

"What good has the FAW done for Cardiff City and Welsh football?"

Its batshit crazy!

If we win it (we wouldn't), then long-distance travels to Latvia, Romania or if we are very lucky Ireland early July in front of 3k..... Amazing

However win a couple of those and the level of opposition raises considerably.

great news for cardiff
at least now we will have an easier route to europe
because lets be honest Cardiff Swansea Newport AND Wrexham will never make europe as
it is at the moment.
i mean we will never anyway due to the clowns running our club.
at least CARDIFF SWANSEA NEWPORT and WREXHAM can face Barry Town more often.

I don’t think it’s a great idea at all.

Adding even more games into an already packed schedule with arguably a very injury prone squad isn’t going to have a very good impact on our main competition, the league.