Just 66 days after The New Saints claimed the JD Welsh Cup for a 10th time at Rodney Parade, a new chapter in the world’s third oldest football cup competition will begin with the 2025-26 Qualifying Round One draw.
The draw will be streamed at 8pm on Thursday 10 July on RedWall+, offering clubs renewed hope and excitement as they set their sights on a deep run in this season’s competition.
A record number of 272 clubs have entered this season’s JD Welsh Cup. The 17 lowest ranked Tier 2 clubs will enter at Round 1 while the 15 highest ranked Tier 2 clubs, alongside all 12 JD Cymru Premier clubs, will enter at Round 2.
In this round, clubs will be split into a Northern section and a Southern section. The Northern section will be drawn first and will consist of one pot of exactly 100 teams. The Southern section will be drawn next, and will consist of 128 teams, which have been split at random into two equal pots of 64 teams.
Each number drawn in the Southern section will represent the respective club in both Pot A and Pot B – e.g. Ball 1 will represent both Aber Valley (Pot A) and Aberdare Town (Pot B).
First qualifying round fixtures will be played across the weekend of 25 July.
