Wales National Football Team Results (1876–1899)
With all four Home Nations playing annual friendly matches, the decision was taken to organise the fixtures into a competition. The British Home Championship, a round-robin tournament, was subsequently formed and the inaugural season was held in 1884. Wales won their opening fixture 6–0 against Ireland but defeats against England and Scotland in their remaining matches led to a third place finish. In 1888, Wales recorded the largest victory in the team's history by defeating Ireland 11–0; Jack Doughty scored four of his side's goals. It was not until 1895 that Wales finished higher than third in the Championship, claiming a second place finish after drawing all three fixtures.
From the nation's first fixture in 1876 to the end of the century Wales played 63 fixtures, winning 11, drawing 8 and losing the remaining 44. Of the side's victories, 9 were secured over Ireland and 2 over England, while they failed to defeat Scotland in 24 attempts during this period. The team's struggles were exacerbated by the reluctance of clubs in the Football League to release Welsh players for international fixtures, which often clashed with league matches. In the 1890s, Wales finished bottom of the British Home Championship in six of the ten tournaments held and lost nine of their final ten matches in the decade.
Results
Wales' score is shown first in each case. The colours listed below are also used to signify results combined with the scoreline.
Colour (with score) | Meaning |
---|---|
Defeat | |
Draw | |
Win |
Head to head records
Opponent | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | W% | D% | L% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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21 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 18 | 75 | 9.52 | 9.52 | 80.95 |
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18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 70 | 28 | 50 | 16.67 | 33.33 |
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24 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 18 | 106 | 0 | 12.50 | 87.50 |
Totals | 63 | 11 | 8 | 44 | 106 | 209 | 17.46 | 12.70 | 69.84 |