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 18 November 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– 100 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 18 November 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 Harry Wilson 2013– 67 17 0.25
9 Robert Earnshaw 2002–2012 58 16 0.28
= Cliff Jones 1954–1969 59 16 0.27
= Mark Hughes 1984–1999 72 16 0.22
12 John Charles 1950–1965 38 15 0.39
= Kieffer Moore 2019– 52 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

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

Goals

Hat-tricks

International tournaments

FIFA World Cup

Qualification
Finals

UEFA European Championship

Finals

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 19 5 5 9 29 32 026
 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 5 5 0 0 12 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 4 2 1 1 10 4 050
 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 729 234 165 330 912 1,165 032

P – Played; W – Won; D – Drawn; L – Lost
Statistics include official FIFA recognised matches only
Up to date as of 19 November 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 67 26 22 19 86 75 +11 039
Overall 729 234 165 330 912 1,165 −253 032

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 19 November 2025

Notes

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

See also

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.

Notes