The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has been contested every four years since 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to the Second World War.
The Wales national football team have entered every World Cup since 1950, but to date have only qualified for two finals tournaments: in 1958 and 2022. In 1958, they reached the quarter-finals before being eliminated by eventual winners Brazil. In 2022, they finished bottom of Group B behind England, the United States, and Iran.
History Before 1950 During the preparations for the 1928 Olympic Football Tournament, FIFA ruled that all its member associations must provide "broken time" payments to cover the expenses of players from their country who participated. In response to what they considered to be unacceptable interference, the football associations of Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland held a meeting at which they agreed to resign from FIFA. As a result, Wales did not compete in the three interwar World Cup competitions. The Football Association of Wales did not rejoin FIFA as a permanent member until 1946.
Brazil 1950 The 1949–50 British Home Championship was used as the qualifying group for the four British teams ahead of the 1950 FIFA World Cup, with the top two qualifying for the finals in Brazil. Defeats in their first two matches against England (4–1 at home) and Scotland (2–0 away) meant Wales were no longer able to qualify regardless of the result in their final game against Ireland (IFA). Despite finishing in second place and thus qualifying for the finals, Scotland declined to travel to Brazil, but instead of retaining two British qualifiers and inviting either Wales or Ireland to replace the Scots, FIFA invited France, Portugal and the other Ireland team to participate. Only France accepted, but they ultimately also pulled out.
Switzerland 1954 As in 1950, the 1953–54 British Home Championship was used to determine which British nations would qualify for the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland. In their three matches, Wales managed just one point, with a 3–3 draw in Scotland sandwiched between home defeats to England (4–1) and Northern Ireland (2–1), leaving them bottom of the table. Wales' five goals in qualifying were scored by just two players: John Charles (3) and Ivor Allchurch (2).
Sweden 1958 The qualification process for the 1958 FIFA World Cup saw FIFA split up the Home Nations for the first time, with Wales drawn into Group 4 with Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Their qualifying campaign started off well, with a goal from Roy Vernon proving the difference in a 1–0 win over Czechoslovakia in Cardiff, but a 2–1 loss to East Germany in Leipzig and a 2–0 defeat to Czechoslovakia left Wales bottom of the group going into the final match at home to East Germany on 25 September 1957. Goals from Des Palmer and Cliff Jones gave Wales a 3–0 lead going into half-time; Manfred Kaiser pulled one back for the East Germans, but it proved to be too great a margin to overcome, and Palmer completed his hat-trick to give Wales a 4–1 win and put them level on points with Czechoslovakia at the top of the group. A win for East Germany over Czechoslovakia by the right scoreline the following month would see Wales qualify as group winners for their first World Cup. In the end, Czechoslovakia beat East Germany by the same scoreline as Wales had (4–1), consigning Wales to second place in the group and ending their World Cup qualifying journey.
However, elsewhere in qualifying, Israel had reached the final round of qualifying without playing a single match as a result of their opponents pulling out for various political reasons. FIFA ruled that no team other than the hosts and holders could qualify without playing any matches, so they ordered a qualification play-off against one of the second-placed European teams. Belgium were drawn first, but refused to participate; Wales were the next team drawn, and so a two-legged play-off was scheduled for early 1958. Wales won each leg 2–0, giving them a 4–0 aggregate win. Wales' manager at the time was Manchester United assistant manager Jimmy Murphy; the second leg of the Israel play-off was scheduled for the same day as Manchester United's European Cup quarter-final against Red Star Belgrade, which Murphy missed to lead his country, a decision that might have saved his life – the Manchester United plane crashed in Munich on the return journey from Belgrade in an incident that killed 23 people, including eight Manchester United players and three members of the club's staff.
At the finals tournament, Wales were drawn in Group 3 along with 1954 finalists Hungary, Mexico and hosts Sweden. Wales began with a 1–1 draw with Hungary, John Charles scoring a 27th-minute equaliser after József Bozsik had given the Magyars the lead in the fifth minute. Ivor Allchurch then gave Wales the lead after half an hour of their second game against Mexico, only for Jaime Belmonte to equalise with a minute left to play. That result left Wales in second place in the group after two matches, but their final match was against leaders Sweden. The two final matches were not played simultaneously, with Wales and Sweden kicking off five hours earlier than Hungary and Mexico, which allowed Wales to stake an early claim to a place in the quarter-finals; they held the hosts to a 0–0 draw, the first time Sweden had been shut out at home in almost a year. Because of the tie-breaking criteria in use at the tournament, that result meant that, regardless of the margin of victory, the best Hungary and Mexico could manage would be to force a play-off against Wales for a place in the quarter-finals – a draw would see them both eliminated. Hungary won the match 4–0, and the play-off was scheduled for two days later in Solna.
Hungary took the lead through Lajos Tichy after 33 minutes and held the lead until half-time. Ten minutes after the break, Ivor Allchurch scored the equaliser, before Terry Medwin scored the winner with just under a quarter of an hour left to play. The result meant Wales qualified for the quarter-finals, where they would play against the winners of Group 4, Brazil. Having impressed in Brazil's last group match against the Soviet Union, a 17-year-old Pelé again started against Wales; however, it took almost three-quarters of the match for Brazil to break through the Welsh defence, as Pelé's flick took him past Mel Charles and he toe-poked home the only goal of the game. Pelé went on to score a further five goals in the tournament, including a hat-trick in the 5–2 win over France in the semi-finals, and two more in another 5–2 win over Sweden in the final as Brazil won the tournament for the first time.
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Play-off
Quarter-finals
Chile 1962 In qualifying for the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile, Wales were drawn into Group 9 with Austria, Denmark and Spain. The group was split into two rounds, with Wales and Austria – as the two nations that had qualified for the 1958 World Cup – receiving a bye to the second round. Denmark withdrew from the qualifying process before any matches were played, so Spain advanced automatically. Austria then also withdrew, leaving Wales and Spain to play off over two legs to determine who would advance. The first leg in Cardiff on 19 April 1961 saw Wales take an early lead through Phil Woosnam after seven minutes, only for Alfonso Rodríguez Salas to level the scores midway through the first half, before Alfredo Di Stéfano scored the winner for Spain with 12 minutes left. The return leg was played in Madrid a month later with Wales needing to win by a two-goal margin to surpass Spain. After a goalless first half, Joaquín Peiró opened the scoring in the 55th minute; Ivor Allchurch scored one of the three goals Wales now required, but they were unable to find the other two and were eliminated.
England 1966 The 1966 FIFA World Cup was played in England and featured 16 teams. Qualifying saw 32 nations compete for the nine UEFA spots at the finals, in addition to host nation England. Wales were drawn into Group 7 with the Soviet Union, Greece and, for the second time in a row, Denmark. This time, Denmark did not withdraw and beat Wales in the group's opening match in Copenhagen in October 1964, thanks to Ole Madsen scoring the only goal of the game. Mimis Papaioannou and Andreas Papaemmanouil gave Greece a 2–0 win in Wales' next game in December. Papaioannou was on the scoresheet again in the two sides' meeting in Cardiff in March 1965, but it proved to be mere consolation as a brace from Ivor Allchurch and further goals from Mike England and Roy Vernon gave Wales a 4–1 win; however, defeat to the Soviet Union in Moscow in May, thanks to a goal from Valentin Ivanov and an own goal by Graham Williams, meant Wales' hopes of qualification were now out of their hands. The Soviet Union won their next three games, scoring 13 goals in the process and ending Wales' campaign, but the return fixture between the two sides in October 1965 saw Wales come out on top in Cardiff; Anatoliy Banishevskiy opened the scoring for the Soviet Union, but Vernon equalised three minutes later, before Ivor Allchurch scored the winner with 13 minutes to go. Wales played their final qualifier at home to Denmark in Wrexham in December 1965, and a 4–2 win thanks to goals from Wyn Davies, Roy Vernon (2) and Ronnie Rees, meant they finished second in the group, four points behind the Soviet Union.
Mexico 1970 The 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico featured 16 teams, of which nine were UEFA nations; eight who went through qualifying plus holders England. The 29 European teams that entered were divided into eight groups (five of four teams, three of three), with the winners of each group qualifying for the finals. Wales were drawn into Group 3 with Italy and East Germany, but lost all four of their matches and finished bottom of the group, their worst performance in qualifying for a major tournament to date.
West Germany 1974 The 1974 FIFA World Cup also featured 16 teams in the finals, with the UEFA qualification process offering eight guaranteed places (in addition to host nation West Germany), plus a further spot for the winners of an inter-continental play-off against a team from South America. The 32 UEFA nations were divided into nine groups (five of four teams, four of three), with the winners of groups 1–8 qualifying automatically for the finals and the winners of group 9 advancing to the play-off. Wales were drawn into Group 5 along with England and Poland. They managed just one point in their first two matches against England (a 1–0 defeat at home and a 1–1 draw away), but goals from Leighton James and Trevor Hockey gave Wales a 2–0 win at home to Poland in their third match. Poland's 2–0 win over England meant that victory for Wales away to Poland would put them top of the group with only England's home meeting with Poland left to play; however, Poland won the match 3–0, which meant Wales finished their qualifying campaign bottom of the group after Poland and England played out a 1–1 draw on the final day.
Argentina 1978