What is the state of Wales' women's national team?

Wales' women have been relegated from League A of the Nations League in a year in which Gemma Grainger's side lost six successive matches.

Wales' performances have been criticised by many pundits with boss Grainger receiving critical scrutiny for the first time in her tenure.

A heartening 0-0 draw with Germany ended their campaign on a high note as Wales prepare to attempt to qualify for a first major finals, the 2025 Euros.

At grassroots, participation is reaching record levels, but record crowds for women's internationals have stagnated as results have dipped.

So what is the state of the women's national team with the growth of women's football a priority for the Football Association of Wales (FAW)?

What's happening with the senior team?

Wales began their year - their first being paid equally to play for Wales as the men's team - with a 1-0 friendly win over the Philippines and ended it with arguably their greatest ever result, a 0-0 draw with a Germany side ranked sixth in the world.

Unlike their 0-0 draw with England in 2018 in which the hosts had 22 shots, Wales created the better chances against Germany in a contest their illustrious opponents needed to win.

Plaudits have rightly followed, but before that Grainger had been criticised by many ex-players and pundits, following relegation from Nations League A.

Back-to-back 5-1 defeats by Denmark and Germany sparked serious scrutiny for Grainger with former Wales international Kath Morgan describing the Germany result as being "like Merthyr playing Man City," while ex-Wales goalkeeper Jo Price went a step further and questioned whether Grainger should be replaced.

Even those more measured in their criticism - like ex-striker Gwennan Harries - said she felt Wales "underperformed" in the Nations League and said the manner of their performances have been a cause for "worry".

However, despite the noise from outside the Wales camp, there remains a steadfast belief in Grainger being the right person to take Wales forward, both within the corridors of power at the FAW and among the players.

Wales' six successive defeats this year come with a ginormous caveat, the quality of the opposition.

Losing games to a USA side ranked third in the world, a German side ranked sixth and twice to Denmark and Iceland who are ranked 12th and 14th in the world, is viewed as valuable experience for a nation that has never before played back-to-back games against top level opposition.

Indeed, even being asked to be friendly opponents for the US, as Wales were in July, can be seen as a measure of the progress being made by a side still only ranked 29th in the world.

Grainger is contracted to Wales until 2027 and is fully expected to lead Wales into Euro 2025 qualifying, with the 0-0 draw with Germany a vindication of her belief that Wales learned more from a Nations League campaign that saw them relegated from League A than they would have from being promoted from League B.

Until they qualify for a major tournament, Wales are unlikely to face a run of such top level opposition as they did in 2023.

However, there is a feeling of the next campaign being a vital one, especially as it is almost certain to be the last qualification campaign for Wales' best and most-capped player, Jess Fishlock.

Wales will be hoping some of the players they rely heavily on - for example Manchester United duo Hayley Ladd and Gemma Evans - can find more game time with their clubs.

But in this campaign Grainger seemed willing to utilise more members of the squad and increased experience for the likes of Ffion Morgan, Charlie Estcourt and Elise Hughes should bode well for the future.

Major tournament qualification remains the aim and it is realistic.

Wales boss Gemma Grainger was appointed in 2021 and signed a new four-year contract in 2023.

How is the future looking?

The FAW has made big strides in improving participation for girls football at grassroots level.

Participation is way up on previous years with over 2,000 children playing weekly at 'Huddle' centres, an initiative set-up by Wales head of women's football, Lowri Roberts.

The FAW has set-up almost 100 Huddle centres and have 100 primary schools delivering the Disney playmakers programme, a Uefa initiative aimed at getting girls between the ages of five and eight playing football.

The FAW says 62% of secondary schools are delivering their Be Football programme for teenage girls.

The FAW aimed to have 20,000 women and girls in Wales playing football by 2026 and they are easily on course to meet that target, so much so that it could be revised.

"We've got the data and that says that there are around 18,000 players minimum playing the game, so we will hit that 20,000 sooner rather than later," Roberts told BBC Radio Wales Sport.

"I think it's an opportunity for all of us and the FAW to kind of go, did we dream big enough? When we set out our targets, were we being ambitious enough because this is snowballing?

"If you look at the attendances, media coverage and the interest, I think we're finally packaging the game up and promoting it in a way which is appealing to this next generation of young people, boys, and girls."

In terms of participation, things are trending well for Wales.

What more needs to be done?

The FAW will face a distinct challenge in 2024, because attendances for Wales internationals are not improving and indeed, are not even keeping pace with club football in England.

While 71,632 fans watched England beat Netherlands 3-2 last week and 15,320 watched England's win over Scotland at Hampden Park, Wales' attendances for their home games with Iceland in Cardiff and Germany in Swansea, failed to hit the 6,000 mark.

Indeed, half of the Women's Super League sides have enjoyed a higher average attendance this season than Wales attracted for their recent international home games, showing there is still work to be done to attract a regular and increased fanbase to Wales women's games.

The FAW have been successful in continually attracting strong crowds for men's internationals, the task now is to do so for women's games and there should be an element of concern at crowds this year going down, not up.

The hope will be that improved results in 2024 when Wales' schedule contains fewer games with top tier nations, sparks an increase in spectators.

There will also be a task for the FAW to show that they are still as committed as ever to the growth of the women's game, with their head of women's football, Roberts, set to leave her post before the end of the year.

While the number of women on the FAW's executive board has grown to four - including Alys Carlton as their independent chair - Roberts' post has not been advertised yet despite her handing in her notice 14 weeks ago.

Roberts has been absolutely integral to driving the growth of the women's game in Wales and she will need to be replaced even if her successor has a narrower remit - due to an improved infrastructure - than Roberts did.

Roberts has been a driving force behind efforts to grow the women's game in Wales and hers will be big shoes to fill and replacing her should be a priority.

Wales' women's football team has made giant strides in recent years and the FAW will be keen to ensure the progress continues ahead of the next qualification cycle.

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