Wales continue on tough path to Euro qualification
Wales women’s bid to reach a first major tournament continues with the European Championships play-off draw on Friday, 19 July in Switzerland.
Rhian Wilkinson’s side won their qualification group and will be seeded for the draw after winning four and drawing two of their qualification games.
But what have we learned from Wales’ campaign so far?
Winning their group, but still tough to qualify
For Wales, despite winning their qualification group – and earning promotion back to League A of the Nations League – it is still a tough route to qualify for a first major finals.
The women’s game has not followed the men’s in expanding the tournament from 16 to 24 teams, so Wales are still four games away from securing their dream.
Wales will be seeded for the draw, which takes place at 12:00 BST and will face a team that finished second or third in League B, meaning they will play one of Turkey, Croatia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia or Azerbaijan, with the first leg away on Friday, 25 October, before the return match at Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday, 29 October.
Should Wales advance – and they will be favourites to do so – they will then face the winner of a League A v League C play-off pairing.
Wales are more likely to face a daunting game with a League A side, with Sweden, Norway, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Czechia, Republic of Ireland or Poland their potential foes.
The potential opponents from League C are Slovenia, Romania, Belarus, Greece, Albania, Luxembourg, Montenegro or Georgia.
A pairing with Norway would certainly be interesting for Wales, with the former World Cup winners managed by Gemma Grainger, who left her post with Wales to manage Norway.
With several Wales players disappointed by Grainger’s decision, being paired with Norway would add an extra spice to the clash.
Should Wales reach the play-off finals, they would host one of those sides on Friday, 29 November, before an away game on Tuesday, 3 December.
The Nations League draw, where Wales will learn their League A opponents for 2025-26, takes place on Thursday, 7 November.
Wilkinson’s tenure begins well
So far, so good, for Wilkinson after her surprising appointment as national team coach.
With Grainger’s resignation coming out of the blue, Wilkinson was the unanimous choice to replace her, taking her first job in management since departing Portland in 2022.
The 42-year old led Portland to the 2022 NWSL Championship, but resigned following an investigation into a relationship with a player.
Wilkinson was cleared of any wrongdoing and tackled her past head on in her opening press conferences as Wales boss, insisting she was ready to move on from the “trauma”.
While Wilkinson’s appointment was greeted with a mixed reaction by the Wales players – who it should be added, were a mixture of sad and furious at Grainger’s departure – the former Canadian international has made a strong impression as Cymru coach.
Playing with a more expansive style than either Grainger or previous boss Jayne Ludlow, Wilkinson has proven so far to be tactically flexible and has taken the chance to give as many players as possible playing minutes.
Wilkinson has moved to Wales to live and is fully embracing her role and having a coach of her calibre could be key in the knockout stages as Wales attempt to create history.
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