Wales national football team records and statistics

This page details Wales national football team records; the most capped players, the players with the most goals, Wales's match record by opponent and decade.

Player records

Most capped players

As of 9 October 2025

Rank	Player	Clubs [nb1]	Wales career	Caps	Goals
1	Gareth Bale	Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, Los Angeles FC	2006–2022	111	41
2	Chris Gunter	Cardiff City, Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest, Reading, Charlton Athletic	2007–2022	109	0
=	Wayne Hennessey	Wolverhampton Wanderers, Crystal Palace, Burnley, Nottingham Forest	2007–2023	109	0
4	Ben Davies	Swansea City, Tottenham Hotspur	2012–	99	3
5	Neville Southall	Everton, Port Vale	1982–1998	92	0
6	Ashley Williams	Stockport County, Swansea City, Everton	2008–2019	86	2
=	Aaron Ramsey	Arsenal, Juventus, Rangers , Nice, Cardiff City	2008–	86	21
8	Gary Speed	Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers	1990–2004	85	7
9	Craig Bellamy	Norwich City, Coventry City, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool, West Ham United, Manchester City, Cardiff City	1998–2013	78	19
10	Joe Ledley	Cardiff City, Celtic, Crystal Palace, Derby County	2006–2018	77	4
=	Joe Allen	Swansea City, Liverpool, Stoke City	2009–2025	77	2
12	Dean Saunders	Oxford United, Derby County, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Galatasaray, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, Benfica, Bradford City	1986–2001	75	22
13	Peter Nicholas	Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Luton Town, Aberdeen, Chelsea	1979–1991	73	2
=	Ian Rush	Liverpool, Juventus	1980–1996	73	28
15	Mark Hughes	Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich , Chelsea, Southampton	1984–1999	72	16
=	Joey Jones	Liverpool, Wrexham, Chelsea, Huddersfield Town	1975–1986	72	1

Top goalscorers

As of 9 October 2025

Rank	Player	Wales career	Caps	Goals	Average
1	Gareth Bale (list)	2006–2022	111	41	0.37
2	Ian Rush (list)	1980–1996	73	28	0.38
3	Trevor Ford	1947–1957	38	23	0.61
=	Ivor Allchurch	1951–1966	68	23	0.34
5	Dean Saunders	1986–2001	75	22	0.29
6	Aaron Ramsey	2008–	86	21	0.24
7	Craig Bellamy	1998–2013	78	19	0.24
8	Robert Earnshaw	2002–2012	58	16	0.28
=	Cliff Jones	1954–1969	59	16	0.27
=	Mark Hughes	1984–1999	72	16	0.22
11	John Charles	1950–1965	38	15	0.39
=	Kieffer Moore	2019–	51	15	0.29

Age records

• Youngest player to make debut: Harry Wilson – 16 years and 207 days
• Oldest player to play a game: Billy Meredith – 45 years and 229 days
• Youngest player to play at World Cup finals: Rubin Colwill – 20 years and 216 days
• Oldest player to play at World Cup finals: Wayne Hennessey – 35 years and 305 days
• Youngest player to score a goal: Gareth Bale – 17 years and 83 days

Other

• Longest serving player: Billy Meredith – 25 years (1895–1920)

Games and results

Firsts

• First International: 26 March 1876 vs   Scotland
• First home international: 5 March 1877 vs   Scotland
• First win: 26 February 1881 vs   England
• First overseas opponent:   France , 25 May 1933
• First win over an overseas opponent: 23 November 1949 vs   Belgium

Biggest

• Biggest Win: 11–0 vs   Ireland , 3 March 1888
• Biggest Loss: 0–9 vs   Scotland , 23 March 1878

Longest

• Longest winning streak: 6, 2 June 1980 – 16 May 1981
• Longest losing streak: 5, 25 March 1876 – 27 March 1880

Goals

• First Welsh goal: William Davies, 18 January 1879 vs   England
• Youngest player to score: Gareth Bale – 17 years and 83 days, 7 October 2006 v   Slovakia
• Most goals scored in one game by a player: 4
  • John Price, 12 Feb 1882 vs   Ireland
  • Jack Doughty, 3 Mar 1888 vs   Ireland
  • Mel Charles, 11 Apr 1962 vs   Northern Ireland
  • Ian Edwards, 25 October 1978 vs   Malta

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Wales national football team hat-tricks

• First hat-trick: John Price , 12 February 1882 vs   Ireland

International tournaments

FIFA World Cup

Main article: Wales at the FIFA World Cup

Qualification

• First match: 15 October 1949 vs   England
• First goal: Mal Griffiths vs   England , 15 October 1949

Finals

• First finals: Sweden 1958
• Total number of times qualified for the finals: 2 (1958, 2022)
• First game: 8 June 1958 vs   Hungary
• First goal: John Charles vs   Hungary , 8 June 1958
• Most successful finals: 1958 – Quarter-finals
• World Cup top goalscorer: 2
  • Ivor Allchurch (1958)

UEFA European Championship

Main article: Wales at the UEFA European Championship

Finals

• First finals: France 2016
• Total number of times qualified for the finals: 2 (2016, 2020)
• First game: 11 June 2016 vs   Slovakia
• First goal: Gareth Bale vs   Slovakia , 11 June 2016
• Most successful finals: 2016 – Semi-finals
• European Championship top goalscorer: 3
  • Gareth Bale (2016)

Rankings

• Highest FIFA Rank: 8 (October 2015)
• Lowest FIFA Rank: 117 (August 2011)
• Highest Elo Rank: 3 (1876–1885)
• Lowest Elo Rank: 75 (September 2000)

Team records

Head to head

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	W%
Albania	4	1	2	1	3	2	025
Andorra	2	2	0	0	4	1	100
Argentina	2	0	1	1	1	2	000
Armenia	4	0	3	1	5	7	000
Australia	1	0	0	1	1	2	000
Austria	11	4	2	5	11	13	036
Azerbaijan	8	7	1	0	15	2	088
Belarus	7	6	0	1	16	8	086
Belgium	18	5	5	8	27	28	028
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4	0	2	2	2	6	000
Brazil	10	1	1	8	5	20	010
Bulgaria	10	5	1	4	6	8	050
Canada	4	2	0	2	4	3	050
Chile	1	0	0	1	0	2	000
China	1	1	0	0	6	0	100
Costa Rica	2	1	0	1	1	1	050
Croatia	8	1	3	4	7	12	013
Cyprus	7	5	0	2	10	6	071
Czech Republic	6	1	4	1	5	5	017
Czechoslovakia	12	3	3	6	10	15	025
Denmark	11	4	0	7	9	16	036
East Germany	4	1	0	3	7	8	025
England	105	14	21	70	91	256	013
Estonia	4	3	1	0	4	1	075
Faroe Islands	2	2	0	0	9	0	100
Finland	16	7	5	4	25	14	044
France	6	1	1	4	4	14	017
Georgia	5	1	1	3	3	9	020
Germany	10	2	3	5	6	13	020
Gibraltar	2	1	1	0	4	0	050
Greece	2	1	0	1	4	3	050
Hungary	12	6	2	4	17	15	050
Iceland	9	6	2	1	19	8	067
Iran	2	1	0	1	1	2	050
Ireland	62	29	12	21	139	102	047
Israel	6	3	3	0	10	3	050
Italy	10	2	0	8	5	24	020
Jamaica	1	0	1	0	0	0	000
Japan	1	1	0	0	1	0	100
Kazakhstan	2	2	0	0	4	1	100
Kuwait	2	0	2	0	0	0	000
Latvia	3	3	0	0	5	0	100
Liechtenstein	4	4	0	0	11	0	100
Luxembourg	6	6	0	0	17	2	100
Malta	4	4	0	0	15	2	100
Mexico	5	1	2	2	3	5	020
Moldova	4	3	0	1	9	3	075
Montenegro	5	3	0	2	6	5	060
Netherlands	10	0	0	10	8	29	000
New Zealand	1	0	1	0	2	2	000
North Macedonia	3	1	1	1	3	3	033
Northern Ireland	35	16	12	7	52	31	046
Norway	11	3	4	4	15	14	027
Panama	1	0	1	0	1	1	000
Paraguay	1	0	1	0	0	0	000
Poland	11	1	3	7	6	13	009
Portugal	4	1	0	3	4	9	025
Qatar	1	1	0	0	1	0	100
Republic of Ireland	19	8	5	6	19	18	042
Rest of the United Kingdom	2	1	0	1	3	3	050
Romania	5	1	1	3	7	9	020
Russia	5	1	1	3	5	6	020
San Marino	4	4	0	0	16	1	100
Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	0	2	1	100
Scotland	107	23	23	61	124	243	021
Serbia	6	0	2	4	5	15	000
Slovakia	6	3	1	2	10	13	050
Slovenia	1	0	1	0	0	0	000
South Korea	1	0	1	0	0	0	000
Soviet Union	5	1	2	2	3	6	020
Spain	6	1	2	3	7	11	017
Sweden	7	0	1	6	3	16	000
Switzerland	8	2	1	5	7	17	025
Trinidad and Tobago	2	2	0	0	3	1	100
Tunisia	1	0	0	1	0	4	000
Turkey	11	4	4	3	13	10	036
Ukraine	4	1	2	1	3	3	025
Uruguay	2	0	1	1	0	1	000
United States	3	0	2	1	1	3	000
Yugoslavia	7	0	3	4	10	18	000
West Germany	7	0	3	4	4	13	000
Totals	725	232	164	329	902	1,160	032

P – Played; W – Won; D – Drawn; L – Lost
Statistics include official FIFA recognised matches only
Up to date as of 9 October 2025

By decade

Decade	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W%
1870s	5	0	0	5	1	20	−19	000
1880s	28	8	3	17	60	82	−22	029
1890s	30	3	5	22	43	112	−69	010
1900s	30	8	8	14	37	60	−23	027
1910s	15	3	3	9	15	23	−8	020
1920s	32	9	10	13	42	61	−19	028
1930s	30	13	5	12	54	60	−6	043
1940s	15	5	0	10	20	31	−11	033
1950s	49	14	14	21	66	91	−25	029
1960s	54	12	9	33	74	108	−34	022
1970s	65	20	18	27	60	77	−17	031
1980s	68	24	19	25	80	72	+8	035
1990s	67	24	10	33	79	109	−30	036
2000s	89	32	23	34	101	97	+4	036
2010s	85	34	16	35	95	96	−1	040
2020s	63	24	21	18	74	69	+5	038
Overall	725	232	164	329	900	1,159	−259	032

P – Played, W – Won, D – Drawn, L – Lost, GF – Goals For, GA – Goals Against, GD – Goal Difference
Statistics include official FIFA recognised matches only
Up to date as of 9 October 2025

Notes

1. ^nb1 Only clubs played for while receiving caps are listed.

See also

• Wales portal

• British Home Championship
• 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification
• 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification
• 1958 FIFA World Cup

References

Bibliography

• Hayes, Dean P. (1994). Wales: The Complete Who's Who of Footballers Since 1946. Sutton Publishing. ISBN   0-7509-3700-9.
• Oliver, Guy (1992). The Guinness Record of World Soccer. Guinness. ISBN   0-85112-954-4.

External links

• RSSSF: Wales – International Results