The Football Association of Wales (FAW) has launched an ambitious decade-long strategic roadmap titled "Llunio Cymru," outlining development targets through to 2036 while calling on the Welsh government and local authorities for vital financial backing. Wales' governing body has established clear benchmarks to increase participation, build more pitches, and qualify consistently for major international tournaments, with a headline goal of seeing the senior men's national side return to the top 20 of Fifa's world rankings.
At the elite level, the blueprint targets regular tournament qualification every other cycle, as well as advancing to the knockout stages at both the co-hosted Euro 2028 and the 2035 Women's World Cup. The FAW intends for 80% of its senior men’s and women’s squads to be regular starters across the world's top five leagues—an increase from the 65% currently recorded in the men's squad. To combat a drop-off in talent following Swansea City's loss of category one status, the association will introduce two elite category club academies, supply clubs with staffing and resources to produce two players per team each year, and monitor dual-qualified individuals through expanded data tracking.
The strategic foundation relies heavily on grassroots expansion, aiming to lift the number of registered players in Wales by 30%, increasing the total from 120,000 to 160,000. This includes doubling registered women and girls to 40,000, supported by a dedicated female strategy launching next month that will double current investment. Further grassroots benchmarks feature delivering 100 new or renovated pitches by 2030, putting quality facilities within 15 minutes of every community, focusing on the 100 most deprived and diverse areas, halving teenage drop-out numbers, providing qualified neutral referees for all matches above under-12 level, boosting qualified coaches by a third, and lifting Cymru Premier attendances beyond an average of 1,000.
Achieving these targets hinges on significant investment, with a recent review estimating that delivering required local authority facilities will cost £150m. Although the FAW has directed more than £30m towards pitches over the past four years and is approaching £50m in revenue via the 2026 World Cup and Euro 2028, chief executive Noel Mooney warned that current capital expenditure of £13m remains "a scratch on the surface of what we need to get to." Calling football's role in preventative health a "no-brainer," Mooney expressed optimism ahead of the Welsh government's upcoming budget following Plaid Cymru's election victory earlier this year, reiterating that additional support from Wales' 22 local authorities is essential to turn the plan into reality.