The Most Successful Football Clubs In Wales

Welsh football is unique in that its four biggest and most successful clubs all play in a different country, with just one of the clubs mentioned below featuring in the main domestic league in Wales.

Cardiff City’s residency in the English divisions dates all the way back to 1910. Indeed, the Bluebirds lifted the FA Cup in 1927 and in more recent times have twice graced the Premier League.

Swansea City meanwhile were admitted into the Football League in 1920. They too have reached the English top-flight twice-over, on the second occasion for much of the 2010s.

Newport County also boast over a hundred years of competitive fare in England while for Wrexham – the third oldest professional football club in the world – their storied history almost exclusively resides across the border.

Inevitably therefore these four institutions make our list below but that is no reflection on other Welsh clubs, more the limited stature of the Cymru Premier League.

Only one Cymru Premier League team posted an attendance of over 1,000 during the 2023-24 campaign.

The New Saints

TNS thoroughly deserve fifth spot on this list for their complete and utter dominance of Welsh football in the 21st century.

Winning all 16 of their league titles since 1999, only Bangor and Connah’s Quay Nomads have managed to wrestle the trophy from their grip in the modern era.

Moreover, after initially struggling to make any impact on the European stage this Oswestry-based club managed to reach the league phase of the Europa Conference League in 2024/25.

A victory over Astana was a highlight, as too were narrow, valiant losses to Fiorentina and Panathinaikos.

At the start of each new campaign the football odds are slight on TNS hoovering up another league crown. In many respects they are the Bayern of the Cymru Premier.

Newport County

A fixture in League Two since earning promotion from the National League in 2013, Newport County have reached a pair of playoff finals and navigated a path to the fifth round of the FA Cup in 2018-19.

Knocking out Leicester City and Middlesbrough earned the club a lucrative match-up with Manchester City.

Nicknamed the Exiles after reforming in 1989 from going bust, but finding themselves subsequently homeless, the club now shares Rodney Parade with the Welsh rugby side Dragons RFC. Their fortunes have improved year-on-year since.

Newport’s attendances have steadily increased since consolidating themselves as a Football League team. Cup upsets help in this regard too.

Wrexham

It’s easy to be swept up in the Hollywood glitz and glamour that surrounds Wrexham following their takeover in 2020. With Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds and TV star Rob McElhenney as co-owners the Dragons have gone from strength to strength, rocketing through the divisions courtesy of heavy investment. Their ascent is showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon either.

The Welcome To Wrexham documentary has brought millions of eyes on the Racecourse and it is perfectly common these days to see A-list film stars watching on, bedecked in red.

All of which is a far cry from their circumstances in the 2000s, the club sliding out of the league and into administration.

Yet we should not forget that at its core, this is a club boasting a proud history forged in working class origins.

No team have won the Welsh Cup more often (23 times) while in 1976 they reached the quarter finals of the Cup Winners Cup, ultimately eked out of the competition by Anderlecht.

Cardiff City

The Bluebirds have shown commendable consistency across the last two decades, establishing themselves as stalwarts of the Championship, with the occasion promotion to briefly attain top-flight status.

Regrettably, this has resulted in the club becoming somewhat taken for granted, ignored even, beyond the Welsh capital and its surrounding regions.

Only Vincent Tan’s controversial ownership has gained any real traction in the media, that and reaching a League Cup final in 2012.

Which is unfair considering that Cardiff City have a rich and varied narrative to their past, traversing all four divisions as well as the Southern League way back when. In 1927 they became the first and only ‘foreign’ side to lift the FA Cup, securing the Charity Shield to boot three months later.

Swansea City

Winners of the League Cup in 2013, Swansea City are the most successful football club in Wales while seven straight seasons in the Premier League between 2011 and 2018 raised their profile immeasurably, both home and abroad.

That period was undoubtedly the club’s zenith to this point, featuring a side that played Pep-ball several years prior to Pep Guardiola’s arrival and regularly out-classing supposedly superior fare.

Showcasing attractive open football they quickly became a favourite second team to many though they were one to avoid in the live betting markets. As capable of pulling off a dramatic comeback as relinquishing a healthy advantage Brendan Rodgers’ men were a study in unpredictability.

Since enduring relegation the Jacks have more than held their own in the second tier, posting a brace of top six finishes. A return to the English top-flight in the future would be welcomed by all, except their bitter rivals down the M4.