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Cymru Premier
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Cymru Premier
The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was founded in 1992, as the first league representing all of Wales. Prior to 2002, the league was known as the League of Wales (LoW), but changed its name as part of a sponsorship deal to the Welsh Premier League. The league was rebranded as the Cymru Premier for the 2019–20 season. Though formed relatively recently, the league contains some of the oldest clubs in world football. Eleven current or former members of the league were founded in the 1870s or 1880s, with many more formed before the end of the 19th century. The vast majority of its clubs are still owned and run by the local community or by people from the area.[citation needed]
It operates on a promotion and relegation system with Tier 2 of the Welsh football league system, the Cymru North and Cymru South leagues. The Cymru Premier League is currently contested by 12 teams, with each team playing each other home and away during the first phase. At the end of this period the league splits into two divisions, with the top 6 teams going on to the Championship Conference, and the bottom 6 teams into the Play-Off Conference. Each team playing each other a further two times, home and away, with the champion being decide by the team with the most points in the Championship Conference, and the lowest two teams in Play-Off Conference relegated. Seasons usually run from August to May, with each team playing 32 matches in total. It is due to expand to 16 teams in 2026-27 and with a changed format.
Cymru Premier is currently ranked 49th in the UEFA coefficients based on the performances by teams in European competition over the past 5 years, giving 4 of its teams opportunities in European football qualifiers.
The current champions are TNS who won the league for the 17th time in the 2024–25 season. Seven teams have won the competition since its inception: TNS (17), Barry Town (7), Bangor City (3), Connah's Quay Nomads (2), Rhyl (2), Llanelli (1) and Cwmbran Town (1). As of the 2024-25 season 42 clubs have participated in Wales' top flight league.
The league was formed in October 1991 by Alun Evans, Secretary General of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), as he believed that the Welsh international football team was under threat from FIFA. The FAW, along with the other three home nations' associations (The Football Association, Irish Football Association and Scottish Football Association), had a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and it was thought that many FIFA members were resentful of this and pressing for the four unions to unite into one combined side for the whole of the United Kingdom.
The new league was formed for the 1992–93 season, and officially launched on 15 August 1992. At the time, despite the FAW being a FIFA and UEFA member it had not previously organised a national league, only the Welsh Cup.
On its formation the league consisted of a number of teams previously playing in regional leagues across Wales, plus a small number of clubs that had been playing in the English league system. Because of historically poor north–south transport links through mountainous mid-Wales (although these have improved in the post World War II years), it was sometimes easier for Welsh clubs to travel east–west to play football, so some Welsh clubs looked east to England for competitors. Teams in Wales that had played in the English leagues included Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Newport County, Swansea City and Wrexham. Many semi-professional sides in Wales also played in both the Welsh and English football league system at different points in their history; Bangor City were founder members of the North Wales Coast League in 1893 and the Welsh National League in 1921, before the Alliance Premier League (now the National League) in 1979 and reached the FA Trophy final in 1984. They transferred back once again to the Welsh system and the new League of Wales in 1992.
While the league itself is relatively young, many of its clubs are among the oldest in the world, having played in North, Mid and South Wales regional leagues since the 19th century. A number of the current members of the league are over 100 years older than the league itself. Many more of the leagues clubs current and ex-clubs were formed before 1900. The current oldest member is Newtown, formed in 1875.
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Cymru Premier
The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was founded in 1992, as the first league representing all of Wales. Prior to 2002, the league was known as the League of Wales (LoW), but changed its name as part of a sponsorship deal to the Welsh Premier League. The league was rebranded as the Cymru Premier for the 2019–20 season. Though formed relatively recently, the league contains some of the oldest clubs in world football. Eleven current or former members of the league were founded in the 1870s or 1880s, with many more formed before the end of the 19th century. The vast majority of its clubs are still owned and run by the local community or by people from the area.[citation needed]
It operates on a promotion and relegation system with Tier 2 of the Welsh football league system, the Cymru North and Cymru South leagues. The Cymru Premier League is currently contested by 12 teams, with each team playing each other home and away during the first phase. At the end of this period the league splits into two divisions, with the top 6 teams going on to the Championship Conference, and the bottom 6 teams into the Play-Off Conference. Each team playing each other a further two times, home and away, with the champion being decide by the team with the most points in the Championship Conference, and the lowest two teams in Play-Off Conference relegated. Seasons usually run from August to May, with each team playing 32 matches in total. It is due to expand to 16 teams in 2026-27 and with a changed format.
Cymru Premier is currently ranked 49th in the UEFA coefficients based on the performances by teams in European competition over the past 5 years, giving 4 of its teams opportunities in European football qualifiers.
The current champions are TNS who won the league for the 17th time in the 2024–25 season. Seven teams have won the competition since its inception: TNS (17), Barry Town (7), Bangor City (3), Connah's Quay Nomads (2), Rhyl (2), Llanelli (1) and Cwmbran Town (1). As of the 2024-25 season 42 clubs have participated in Wales' top flight league.
The league was formed in October 1991 by Alun Evans, Secretary General of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), as he believed that the Welsh international football team was under threat from FIFA. The FAW, along with the other three home nations' associations (The Football Association, Irish Football Association and Scottish Football Association), had a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and it was thought that many FIFA members were resentful of this and pressing for the four unions to unite into one combined side for the whole of the United Kingdom.
The new league was formed for the 1992–93 season, and officially launched on 15 August 1992. At the time, despite the FAW being a FIFA and UEFA member it had not previously organised a national league, only the Welsh Cup.
On its formation the league consisted of a number of teams previously playing in regional leagues across Wales, plus a small number of clubs that had been playing in the English league system. Because of historically poor north–south transport links through mountainous mid-Wales (although these have improved in the post World War II years), it was sometimes easier for Welsh clubs to travel east–west to play football, so some Welsh clubs looked east to England for competitors. Teams in Wales that had played in the English leagues included Aberdare Athletic, Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Newport County, Swansea City and Wrexham. Many semi-professional sides in Wales also played in both the Welsh and English football league system at different points in their history; Bangor City were founder members of the North Wales Coast League in 1893 and the Welsh National League in 1921, before the Alliance Premier League (now the National League) in 1979 and reached the FA Trophy final in 1984. They transferred back once again to the Welsh system and the new League of Wales in 1992.
While the league itself is relatively young, many of its clubs are among the oldest in the world, having played in North, Mid and South Wales regional leagues since the 19th century. A number of the current members of the league are over 100 years older than the league itself. Many more of the leagues clubs current and ex-clubs were formed before 1900. The current oldest member is Newtown, formed in 1875.