Of the three recent major tournament squads, Rob Page’s 26-man Qatar line-up contains the highest proportion of players born in Wales
THE squad that Rob Page will take to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will contain more players born in Wales than the squads of 2016 and 2020.
Since Wales last qualified for the World Cup in 1958, the national team have been absent on the world stage but have qualified for two European Championships – in 2016 and 2020.
Those squads saw the number of players in the squad born in Wales sit at 14 and 15 respectively. This tournament, it will be 16 out of a squad of 26 meaning that 61.5% of the team will have been born in the country.
Of those who were born elsewhere, nine were born in England with one, goalkeeper Adam Davies, born in Rinteln, Germany.
The number reflects the nation’s growing love for football, especially with the national team’s improved performances pushing them as high as eighth in the FIFA World Rankings in recent times.
The Euro 2016 squad featured only 23 players rather than the 26 that Rob Page will take to Qatar, but still included a smaller proportion of Welsh-born players. This included captain Ashley Williams who was born in Wolverhampton, England.
For Euro 2020, Adam Davies was selected again, with Rhys Norrington-Davies not born in Europe but in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
However, the squad that travelled to Sweden in 1958 consisted entirely of players born in Wales, with more places in the South Wales Valleys represented.
Rob Page’s team open their World Cup account on Monday, November 21, when they play USA (7pm), before facing Iran on Friday 25 (10am) and England on Tuesday 29 (7pm).
