Wales football club has had plenty of international success, and this has helped to put Welsh football on the map. It has posed the question, just how popular is football in Wales? That is exactly what we are going to answer in this post, as we look into the structure of football in the country.
With a Premier League, as well as many lower and regional divisions, there’s plenty of football played across Wales. Despite playing a small part on the world stage, especially when compared to the English Premier League, local crowds still flock to what their team play.
Stadium Capacity
A great indicator of popularity is how large the stadiums are within the Welsh leagues. On the surface, the home grounds of the successful clubs may seem very small. New Saints FC for example, have won over 10 titles, and their ground can only hold 2,000. But the size of the local town, and Wales as a whole, needs to be considered.
New Saints FC is a club from Powys, a county with 132,000 population (2017), and so the 2,000 stadium capacity doesn’t seem so unreasonable. Plus, unlike the English Premier League, which attracts large levels of tourists, the Welsh league doesn’t, and so stadiums are much smaller.
The Welsh Divisions
The Cymru Premier, or the Welsh Premier League, is the top football division in Wales, but there are many others. Including:
- Cymru North
- Cymru North
- Ardal Leagues
The Growing Popularity of Welsh Football
So, how popular is football in Wales? Amongst locals, very much so. Although many Welsh fans support Cardiff or Swansea, who both play in the English leagues, many also opt for a more local team to back. There will always be a place for the Cymru Premier and the lower divisions.
The difficulty that Welsh football will always have is competing on the world stage. It’s mostly unknown to anybody outside of the UK, and most international football fans opt for English football. If teams from Wales enjoy more success in European competitions, the popularity may just explode beyond the locals.