{"id":18804,"date":"2026-05-07T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/cymru-leagues\/?p=18804"},"modified":"2026-05-07T15:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T14:02:15","slug":"statement-nathaniel-mg-cup-and-welsh-blood-service-league-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/cymru-leagues\/news\/statement-nathaniel-mg-cup-and-welsh-blood-service-league-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement: Nathaniel MG Cup and Welsh Blood Service League Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/d20w35i08zcmee.cloudfront.net\/Cups-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18806\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d20w35i08zcmee.cloudfront.net\/Cups-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/d20w35i08zcmee.cloudfront.net\/Cups-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/d20w35i08zcmee.cloudfront.net\/Cups-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/d20w35i08zcmee.cloudfront.net\/Cups.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Football Association of Wales can confirm that the Nathaniel MG Cup and Welsh Blood Service League Cup will be removed from the season calendar for 2026\/27.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This decision follows a period of significant research and aligns with feedback received during collaborative consultation with clubs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the Cymru Premier expands to 16 clubs in 2026\/27, the FAW\u2019s strategic focus is on strengthening the league format, which brings with it an expanded fixture programme, increasing pressure on the calendar and the impacts associated to this.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FAW wishes to place on record its sincere gratitude to Nathaniel Cars and the Welsh Blood Service for their support of the competitions and both organisations will continue as valued partners of the association.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2026\/27 Cymru Leagues fixture calendar, set to be the most exciting yet with more jeopardy in tiers one and two, will be confirmed in the coming weeks as the relaunch of the leagues approaches.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FAW can confirm that the Nathaniel MG Cup and Welsh Blood Service League Cup will be removed from the season calendar for 2026\/27.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":18806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ftr_img_focal":{"x":0.52,"y":0.3},"footnotes":""},"categories":[138,155],"class_list":["post-18804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nathaniel-mg-cup","category-welsh-blood-service-league-cup"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - 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