FAW to honour 70 pioneer women's players at cap event

Wales' national team under the Football Association of Wales was launched in 1993

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) is to present 70 women's players with their first international caps retrospectively.

The FAW has records of 27 matches taking place between 1973 and 1993, a period in which players did not receive caps because the Welsh team were not associated with the national association.

The FAW-affiliated Wales side was formed in 1993 and played its first fixture against Iceland in Afan Lido.

The FAW has since identified 94 players who represented their country in the preceding 20 years, and contact details were obtained for 44 of those players.

In September, the FAW announced it was seeking help to find contact details for the remaining 50 players that represented the women’s team in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

The public call - made in conjunction with the support of former player Michele Adams MBE and historian John Carrier amongst others - proved partially successful as contacts for a further 26 players were found.

More than 40 players will now be honoured at a cap presentation at St Fagan’s National Museum of History, Cardiff on Friday night.

Some will receive their caps by post, with some players based as far afield as Australia and Canada.

FAW chief executive officer Noel Mooney said: "After working hard over the last 18 months collecting contact information about the former players from the 1970s and 1980s, the evening will be a very special one to celebrate the women who started the story of our national team.”

The governing body are continuing to seek contact details for the remaining 24 players - or family members - to help celebrate their successes.