FAW restructures women's domestic football in Wales

Port Talbot Town Ladies play in the Welsh Premier Women's League

The Football Association of Wales [FAW] have announced that they will restructure the women's game in Wales, starting from the 2021-22 season.

Following a review, the top tier will remain a national league run by the FAW, with the champions qualifying for the Women's Champions League.

The second tier will be regionalised with new northern and southern leagues.

Third and fourth tiers will become recreational leagues, run by area associations.

The FAW said: "With an aim to increase participation in the women's game in Wales, the recreational level will be allowed more flexibility in the rules and regulations to achieve this objective.

"The licence application process for Tier 1 and 2 will be open to all clubs in Wales for the 2021-22 season.

"Details of licence criteria for Tier 1 and 2 and the application process will be announced in due course."

As well as an overhaul to the top two tiers, a new under-19 development league will be introduced.

Divided into a northern and southern league, they will be operated by the same independent management committees responsible for the second tier.

An under-19 development team will also be a mandatory condition of obtaining a licence to participate in the top division.

Lowri Roberts, the FAW's head of women's and girls' football, said: "By introducing set criteria and providing additional support to Tier 2 leagues and clubs, it will provide a stronger platform for clubs to prepare to step into the Tier 1 and therefore create a more sustainable domestic pyramid and a more competitive national league.

"During the consultation period, it became very clear that there was a need to introduce a transitional step between U16s girls' football and senior women's football as the current structure was not supporting player retention."

Last year Rhyl Ladies FC withdrew from the Welsh Premier Women's League due to a lack of available players, leaving the league with nine clubs.

That prompted calls for change from the likes of Port Talbot Town Ladies head coach Hayley Williams, and the FAW review sought to address such issues.

The governing body set up an internal working group involving FAW and FAW Trust staff from many of its own departments as well as Uefa to look at best practice models from across Europe.

Externally, the FAW also met with several clubs from various levels of the domestic game in Wales, and created an online player survey which was completed by 419 players who currently play women's football in Wales or play in an under-16 team.