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Tom Hamilton
The English Football Association (FA) has blocked the English Football League’s Welsh clubs’ plans to join a revamped Welsh League Cup next season.
The move will come as a blow to Wrexham, Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County‘s hopes of securing a spot in the UEFA Conference League.
Wrexham were fully behind the plans for the new Welsh League Cup, but their support was contingent on the competition receiving the English FA’s blessing, sources confirmed to ESPN.
The Football Association of Wales (FAW) plans saw the four clubs playing in the EFL joining 12 teams from the JD Cymru Premier to compete for the Welsh League Cup.
The winner would secure a spot in the Conference League.
However, plans were contingent on the FA giving the revamped competition its blessing.
In a statement issued by the FA, the governing body said there were concerns “regarding competition integrity, fixture congestion and player welfare, and the impact on the standing of existing competitions.
“The FA board has rejected the request.”
The FA added: “It was noted that it is open to the Welsh clubs to choose whether or not to participate in the English or Welsh system based on their own assessment of the relative merits of participation in each system, but if they choose to participate in the English system they must do so on the same basis as the English clubs which participate in that system.”
The plans were announced by the FAW earlier in January, who hope the re-launched competition will bring a £3 million ($3.6m) windfall into the club game, while also offering the winner of the competition a path into the qualifying rounds of a UEFA club competition.
“This will be a game-changer for the development of the game as we work to unlock the full potential of Welsh football,” FAW chief executive Noel Mooney said at the time.
“It will unite Welsh football, improve the game at all levels, and deliver meaningful societal benefits across Wales making our clubs and communities more sustainable.”
The competition is a key cornerstone of the FAW’s Prosiect (Project) Cymru, as they seek to improve their UEFA coefficient, and therefore receive a larger cut of UEFA’s financial distributions.
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