Cymru squad announced for Nations League opening matches

Craig Bellamy has announced a 28-player squad as Cymru’s UEFA Nations League campaign gets underway against some of Europe’s strongest teams in League A.

Cymru welcome back several players who were unavailable for June’s friendly matches against Ghana and Romania, including Harry Wilson and Jordan James. Cian Ashford also receives his first senior team call-up for the matches.

Bellamy’s side will begin their Nations League campaign with two away fixtures against Portugal in Lisbon (Thursday 24 September) and Denmark in Copenhagen (Sunday 27 September). Cymru will then return home for two matches in the Cardiff City Stadium, where they will face Norway (Thursday 1 October) and Denmark (Sunday 4 October).

Cymru last faced Portugal in the EURO 2016 semi-finals, where a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo helped his country to a 2-0 win on their path to win the tournament. The last time Cymru faced Norway was in a 4-1 friendly win at the Cardiff City Stadium in what was Gary Speed’s final match in charge of his country. Both countries were involved in this summer’s FIFA World Cup.

Denmark have been more recent opponents, with Cymru facing them twice in the 2018 UEFA Nations League campaign and in the UEFA EURO 2020 round of 16.

As a League A team, achieving a top two finish in the group would see Cymru progress to the quarter-finals that will take place in March 2027. The four quarter-final winners will then progress to the Nations League finals which will take place in June 2027 and will be hosted by one of the competing nations.

Finishing third would mean a relegation play-off against a team from League B also in March, while finishing bottom of the group would result in direct relegation ahead of the next edition of the competition.

Tickets for the Norway and Denmark home matches are available to purchase on the FAW ticketing website.

Cymru: Karl DARLOW (Manchester United), Danny WARD (Wrexham), Tom KING (Everton), Jay DASILVA (Coventry City), Jayden LIENOU (Leeds United), Ben DAVIES (Tottenham Hotspur), Rhys NORRINGTON-DAVIES (Sheffield United), Chris MEPHAM (West Bromwich Albion), Ben CABANGO (Swansea City), Neco WILLIAMS (Nottingham Forest), Connor ROBERTS (Burnley), Ethan AMPADU (Leeds United), Josh SHEEHAN (Bolton Wanderers), Jordan JAMES (Wolverhampton Wanderers- On loan from Stade Rennais), Liam CULLEN (Leicester City), Joel COLWILL (Cardiff City), Harry WILSON (Leeds United), Nathan BROADHEAD (Wrexham), Cian ASHFORD (Cardiff City), Brennan JOHNSON (Everton), Sorba THOMAS (Hull City), Cameron CONGREVE (KVC Westerlo), Lewis KOUMAS (Liverpool), Kieffer MOORE (Wrexham), Mark HARRIS (Oxford United), Dan JAMES (Leeds United), David BROOKS (Bournemouth), Wes BURNS (Leicester City).