FOOTBALL: Wales considering team name change after World Cup

Wales con­sid­er renam­ing foot­ball team after World Cup.

The coun­try’s teams now use Eng­lish nota­tion in Uefa and Fifa.

How­ev­er, the team is said to be in talks with Euro­pean fed­er­a­tions to change the team name to ‘Cym­ru’.

The Welsh FA already uses the Welsh word ‘Cym­ru’ in inter­nal and exter­nal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, as well as by staff at the gov­ern­ing body’s head­quar­ters in Vale, Glamorgan.

The FAW will dis­cuss the pros and cons of chang­ing the name of the coun­try in inter­na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tions with var­i­ous Welsh foot­ball stakeholders.

FAW chief exec­u­tive Noel Mooney said ahead of Wales’ first World Cup since 1958: “The team should always be called Sairam and that’s what we call it here.”

“Our think­ing at the moment is that nation­al­ly, it’s clear­ly Cym­ru. That’s the nation­al team.

“If you look at our web­site, we are exact­ly Cymru.

“I think at the inter­na­tion­al lev­el there is still a bit of work to be done, so we will go into this World Cup as Wales.

How­ev­er, I believe 2023 will be the year of sol­id dis­cus­sions with all stake­hold­ers, includ­ing gov­ern­ments, our own Boards, Coun­cils, deci­sion-mak­ing bod­ies, staff, clubs and players. ”

“We are a very open and demo­c­ra­t­ic orga­ni­za­tion and we did not uni­lat­er­al­ly decide this today.

I would like to say “direc­tion”, but there is no firm deci­sion. What we are going for is rather pervasive. ”

A poten­tial name change for Wales emerged ear­li­er this month when Robert Page’s side were drawn in the same Euro 2024 qual­i­fy­ing group as Turkey.

The Turks are now com­pet­ing as Turkiye on the inter­na­tion­al stage. This is because the Ankara gov­ern­ment has request­ed that the coun­try’s name be known to the world in Turk­ish rather than English.

“I’ve spo­ken to Turks at the Euro 2024 draw,” Mooney said.

He has also spo­ken pri­vate­ly with Uefa over cof­fee at var­i­ous events. ”

I’m ask­ing what kind of direc­tion you have, such as whether there is a move­ment to “use your moth­er tongue”.

“What I do know is the revival of the Welsh lan­guage and a great sense of pride in its cul­ture and heritage.

The name change to Cym­ru would end Wales being alpha­bet­i­cal­ly last among Uefa’s 55 mem­ber asso­ci­a­tions in var­i­ous draws and meetings.

Mean­while, it has been decid­ed that Dafy­dd Iwan’s Yma o Hyd will be the offi­cial song of Wales for the World Cup in Qatar.

The 79-year-old folk singer’s Welsh anthem, which trans­lates to “We’re Still Here,” has been well received by Drag­ons play­ers, offi­cials and fans.

After tear­ing up and singing a mov­ing song in Cardiff ahead of March’s play-off semi-final against Aus­tria, Ivan led game-win­ning Gareth Bale and team­mates on the pitch after defeat­ing Ukraine. and sang a song of celebration.

The Welsh inter­na­tion­al will not appear in a music video like the one he made with Man­ic Street Preach­ers before Euro 2016, but he will be seen along­side Bale and Aaron Ram­sey after the game in Cardiff in June. A video tak­en by will be used.