FAW Refuses Wrexham FC Invitation Into Welsh Cup

The Football Association of Wales has refused to invite Wrexham FC into this year’s Welsh Cup as they would not be able to qualify for Europe if they won it.

The reds returned to the cup contest along with Newport and Merthyr Town last year after a 17 year exile, Swansea and Cardiff turned down their invite.

However, just one year on the FAW has withdrawn their invitation to all exiled clubs blaming a UEFA decision not to allow clubs in the English leagues to qualify for the Europa League through the tournament.

They also said that the fixture congestion, which saw Wrexham play Brentford in the FA Cup and Airbus in the Welsh Cup on the same day was partly to blame.

We put it to FAW that they could still have allowed the club to take part with Europa League qualification going to the highest ranked Welsh League side, but the suggestion fell on deaf ears.

They admitted that when they invited Wrexham last year they were not aware of whether the club would have qualified had they won.

As it was a reserve dragons squad went out to Airbus in the first round after losing 2-1 in extra time whilst the first team progressed to the third round of the FA Cup after beating Brentford 1-0.

An FAW spokesperson said: “We went to UEFA in March for clarification over whether the English tier clubs could represent Wales in the Europa League if they won the Welsh Cup and were told that they couldn’t.

“Last year we didn’t have clarification from UEFA but still invited the exiled clubs in an attempt to boost the profile of the competition.

“As well as UEFA’s decision there were issues with Wrexham having to play Brighton (we think he meant Brentford) and Airbus on the same day.”