Wales National Team Appearances in the FIFA World Cup – Historical review

Wales will play at a World Cup for the first time in 64 years when they compete in Qatar this winter and Robert Page’s heroic Dragons are ready to roar to the soul-stirring tune of ‘Yma o Hyd’ in the Persian Gulf.

Indeed, that 64-year wait to fly their flag at a World Cup is the longest any nation has endured between successive appearances at the finals and the current Welsh crop look ready to honour their trailblazing predecessors from 1958.

Over six decades ago in Sweden, a Welsh squad led by legendary coach Jimmy Murphy – of Manchester United fame – made it through a group they shared with Sweden, Hungary and Mexico before they were eliminated by eventual winners Brazil (1-0) in the quarter finals.

A similar run in 2022 would be seen as a colossal achievement and if you’re looking for positive omens, then current manager Robert Page being raised a stone’s throw from the mining village of Pentre, where Jimmy Murphy was born, is certainly one.

You won’t find any World Cup predictions that have Wales listed as possible winners in Qatar, though the Dragons still wield a flame powerful enough to scorch more illustrious opponents in 2022.

To whet your appetite for Wales’s World Cup adventure, we’ve taken a look at the country’s previous appearance at the FIFA World Cup in a historical review.

Qualification for 1958: Wales take an unusual route

Long before more modern stars like Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush, Dean Saunders and Gareth Bale, there was Ivor Allchurch, Cliff Jones, Alf Sherwood, Jack Kelsey, Trevor Ford, Ronnie Burgess, Terry Medwin and John Charles – members of a golden generation of Welsh footballers in the 1950s who had talent to burn.

However, qualification for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden was achieved in unorthodox fashion by the Dragons’ star turns. In fact, initially, Wales had missed the cut completely having finished second in their qualifying Group 4 behind Czechoslovakia.

Victories over eventually group winners Czechoslovakia (1-0) on matchday one and against East Germany (4-1) on matchday four bookended a pair of defeats to the same nations in between and Wales were left to rue missed opportunities.

However, Wales were thrown a lifeline the form of a two-legged playoff against Israel due to some politically led qualification reshuffles by FIFA and the Dragons eventually booked their passage to Sweden with a 4-0 aggregate win in the hastily-arranged deciders.

Wales play with passion and pride at World Cup 1958

Unencumbered by the weight of expectation, Wales were free to play without pressure at World Cup ‘58 and they drew all three of their Group 3 matches against strong Hungary, Mexico and host nation, Sweden.

Tied on three points with the Hungarians after three rounds of games, Jimmy Muphy’s side played off

against the Magyars again at the Råsunda Stadium, Solna for a place in the tournament’s next round – in what became the northernmost World Cup match ever played.

Wales slipped behind but produced a rousing second-half comeback in Solna, scoring through iconic Swansea Town pair Ivor Allchurch and Terry Medwin to oust Hungary. Allchurch moved on to bigger things with Newcastle shortly after the tournament, two years after Medwin had left Swansea to join Tottenham.

In the quarter-finals, Wales met a Brazil team spearheaded by 17-year-old sensation Pele, though the Dragons were shorn of their own talisman, John Charles, who was injured and didn’t feature.

It was Pele who ended the Welsh dream in Gothenburg with a 66^th-minute strike – his first of 77 goals on the international stage for the Selecao. Pele would go on to notch 12 times at World Cup tournaments, though elimination at the hands of one of the top goal scorers in the world offered little in the way of consolation for Wales.

Nevertheless, Wales’s run to the competition’s quarter-finals was and is still now seen as a monumental triumph for a nation that had achieved little of note until then. While the current Welsh party aren’t listed among the top five contenders to win the World Cup in 2022 – or even the top ten for that matter – they can draw from the spirit of 1958 to punch above their weight in Qatar.