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Association football is one of the most popular sports in Wales. Wales has produced club teams of varying fortunes since the early birth of football during the Victorian period, and in 1876 a Wales national football team played their first international match. Football has always had a close rivalry with the country's ''de facto'' national sport rugby union, and it is much discussed as to which is Wales' more popular game. The Football Association of Wales (FAW), was established in 1876 to oversees the Wales national team and govern the sport in Wales, later creating and running the Welsh football league system. Welsh professional club teams traditionally played in the same leagues as their English counterparts, structured into regional divisions. This often resulted in teams from North Wales and South Wales not facing each other as the transport links between the two regions were poor. In 1992 the Welsh Premier League was formed to create a national league. Six Welsh clubs who enjoyed success in the English leagues refused to join, but despite this the teams that come top of the Welsh Premier League have a greater chance of playing in Europe, as the top three clubs are drawn into the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. The Wales national team has struggled to find success at international level, with its only appearance in the World Cup occurring in 1958. This has led to some world-renowned players from Wales not being seen at the biggest international tournaments, though many of them have made a name for themselves at club level. Welsh players of note include John Charles, Trevor Ford, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes, Neville Southall, Ryan Giggs, Cliff Jones and Gareth Bale while in Wales the likes of Ivor Allchurch, Fred Keenor and Jack Kelsey are cherished. Dragon Park, the Wales National Football Development Centre, is located in Newport. ==History== The game that would become Association football was first codified in Britain in the mid-19th century, and by the 1860s and 1870s became established in industrial towns in the Midlands and north of England. The north Wales towns of Wrexham and Ruabon also adopted the sport in this era. This interest led to the formation of the Football Association of Wales (FAW) in 1876 by Welsh solicitor Llewelyn Kenrick and this was followed in 1877 by the creation of the Welsh Cup.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Story of Welsh Football: 1877-1879 )〕 In 1877 the FAW formed the first Wales national football team who played their first game that year, losing 4-0 away to Scotland.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Story of Welsh Football )〕 The Wrexham area was the centre of football in Wales for the first twenty years, with the south of the country preferring to follow the emerging sport of rugby union. The first time an international game was held in the south was in 1894, hosted in Swansea, which was the 46th match the Wales team had played. More telling in the north / south divide that existed in the sport was that it was not until the 67th fixture that the first southern player was selected for the national team.〔 The 1890s and early 1900s saw an increase in competitive association football in south Wales, but the success of the Wales rugby team in the 1893 Home Nations Championship and the defeat of the 1905 New Zealand team saw football kept as a secondary sport in the area. The modern era of association football in Wales is agreed to have begun during the 1909–10 season when the first of six teams from the south joined the Southern Football League.〔 Wrexham F.C. had already joined the Birmingham and District League during the 1905–06 season, but the introduction of Swansea, Newport, Ton Pentre, Merthyr Tydfil, Aberdare and Riverside into the Southern Leagues saw an increase in popularity of the sport in Wales. This was cemented with vital wins in the league and then in 1915, Swansea's surprise win over the then reigning League Champions, Blackburn Rovers F.C. in the FA Cup. In May 2012 the FAW, Scottish Football Association and the Football Association of Ireland formally declared an interest in co-hosting UEFA Euro 2020.〔(Euro 2020: Ireland, Scotland and Wales eye joint bid as hosts )〕 The two major trophies for Welsh club teams playing in England are the 1927 FA Cup for Cardiff City and the 2013 League Cup trophy for Swansea City. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Football in Wales」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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