The recruitment process to appoint a new Head Coach of the Men’s National Team is underway as Cymru prepare to play Türkiye, Montenegro and Iceland from September in the UEFA Nations League.
The Head Coach position is integral to inspiring the Cymru players to ensure qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and deliver against the Football Association of Wales’ strategic objective to consistently qualify for major international tournaments.
The Cymru Men’s National Team has risen from 117th in the FIFA World Rankings in 2012, to 12th in 2022 following unparalleled success, including reaching the Semi-Finals of UEFA EURO 2016, the Round of 16 at UEFA EURO 2020 and reaching the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 64 years in 2022.
The FAW aim to attract the very best candidate to succeed in this role and achieve the required objectives. The FAW are looking for a coach with a proven track record of delivering success at club and/or international level.
Here are some key characteristics and the profile that the FAW will be focussed on for the next Cymru Men’s Head Coach:
Qualification
The FAW knows how important coach education is to growing the game in Wales and offers a world-renowned service through its coaching courses. The UEFA Pro-Licence is a pre-requisite for coaches at the top level of the game and this qualification will be required to become Cymru’s next Head Coach.
The Pro-Licence prepares candidates to work as a modern-day manager or head coach at club or international level. It develops their leadership and interpersonal skills to successfully implement their unique management style and philosophy.
Grow in the role
The Head Coach will be able to grow in the role through effort, learning and persistence. Through a growth mindset and strong leadership skills they will need to demonstrate the capacity to be tactically flexible, make effective in game decisions and demonstrate their ability to adapt their own philosophy to ensure the squad of players is successfully managed.
High performance
The FAW has a high performance strategy that has its foundations in the FAW Values and the ‘Welsh Way’ tactical principals. Through this strategy, the FAW’s ambition is to create winning teams by providing the platform and environment for people to achieve their potential and drive a culture of informed decision making through engagement with experts utilising the FAW’s Centre for Football Research. As a result, it will be key for the Head Coach to have experience of working with a multidisciplinary team.
Relationships
An important role of the Head Coach will be the ability to prioritise and work effectively between international camps to build relationships with the squad players and their clubs, in addition to maintaining an open dialogue to assess the needs of the players to manage their workloads for international and club success.
Together Stronger
An important role of the Head Coach will be to support the FAW’s wider initiatives across the country. The Cymru National Teams are pivotal to and embedded within Welsh culture, language, history and life. The Head Coach will work to raise awareness of all aspects of the FAW’s work.
What happens next?
The FAW has invited expressions of interest in the position of Head Coach and will speak to all potential candidates. The FAW will assess all individuals against the requirements it believes will provide success for the Men’s National Team.
