Adran Premier changes could be “radical” according to the FAW
Credit: FAW photography
With the Adran Premier kicking off on Sunday, the FAW’s Head of Domestic Leagues, Jack Sharp, has said the league could see radical changes.
The association announced at the start of August that there would be a comprehensive analysis and review of the Adran Premier, the first of its kind for women’s football in Wales.
The recommendations as a result of the review will be presented by the FAW in Spring 2026, and Sharp has said that the changes could be radical.
“The Euros has been a catalyst for us to announce and carve out the first-ever long-term strategic direction for the elite game in Wales,” said Sharp.
“It’s about being able to identify what is going to make our league unique and special while being able to retain our Welshness within it.
“We’re not afraid to be radical with this approach. We’re not trying to copy what’s already out there. We’re trying to find something that might be a bit of a disruptor in the environment. We want to put our players at the heart of what we’re going to do in the future.
“How can we make sure that this next generation of talent can look to have a career inside our own borders and not have to go and relocate to go and experience that. That has to sit at the fundamental heart of what we’re trying to achieve.”
One topic of conversation around the Adran Leagues, as well as the Cymru Leagues, has been moving to a summer league.
It was another disappointing season in the Women’s Champions League for Welsh clubs. Cardiff City once again fell at the first hurdle of the competition, losing 4-0 to Irish champions Athlone Town. It means no Welsh team has won a game in the Champions League since 2019, while no team has scored in it since 2021.
It has been suggested that moving to a summer league would not only make Welsh clubs, potentially, more competitive on the European stage, but it could also increase attendances across the women’s game.
Sharp himself said nothing was off the table at this stage, and that those in the game can’t be afraid of being different.
“When we announced in March that we were going to do this piece of work, there was a number of things that went into it,” he said.
“First of all, we have to pitch what the process looks like. That bit is done. Last week was the kick-off point of actually understanding what the strategy is going to look like.
“What this means is, what do your data insights look like. We’ve become very data rich with the processes we’ve been running in order to identify to the good, the bad and the ugly of the league and the state of the game. We’re also utilising that mechanism to find out what we can be, but it’s also important to call out what we’re not going to be.
“It’s all well and good being data rich, but you have to be insight savvy in order to use it properly, and this will form the pillars that come out in our strategy. We will do our due diligence properly, but nothing is off the table and nor should it be.
“When you’re creating something that’s never been in play before, when you’re creating a strategy for the betterment of the long-term game, coupled with a World Cup on home soil in 2035, we can think differently while being creative and innovative.
“Why shouldn’t we look at things through a very different lens than before? It’s important that we are not afraid to embrace different.”
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Adran North and South importance
With the Adran Premier going from strength to strength, it’s a different story in the second tier.
Last week saw Rhyl withdraw from the Adran North, meaning the league will only have seven teams this season. This will be the fifth year of the Adran Leagues rebrand; there has never been a full complement of 16 teams in the second tier.
Sharp admits it’s disappointing that the second tier once again won’t be filled entirely but expressed that this Adran Premier project will have huge ramifications for the second tier.
Sharp said: “We know that our football pyramid is fragile, and part of this work has got to be about looking outside the Adran Premier bubble.
“Although we’ve called it as the Adran Premier project, we understand there will be a significant piece of work that will come out of this that will look at the pyramid.
“How do we ensure that more clubs in tier three can go into tier two and feel that they can flourish and have good success in that structure? How can we make sure that more tier two clubs can jump into the Adran Premier?
“My role is to ensure that the football pyramid is something that we celebrate. We should allow on-pitch results to dictate who can come up and who can come down. With the Cymru Premier strategy, we’ve seen a significant number of resources and timing go into tier two.
“That is a commonality I see with the Adran Premier strategy. We can’t just look at the eight clubs in the top end. We have to make sure and ask how we can prop up the football pyramid. We have to look at football more widely than just these eight clubs.
“If you can’t have a system where there’s more than eight football clubs who feel like they can go into that elite game, then we will find blockages further down the line.”
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Building on the Euros
This is a big season for everyone involved at the FAW after the national team played at their first ever European Championships in Switzerland.
Sharp explained that the association have been given a platform that they’ve never had before to build for the future, and it’s an opportunity they want to take with both hands.
“What a phenomenal platform we’ve all been given to build future structures, interest, and investment around our high performing women’s leagues. This year, we’ve got to capitalise on what our players, our coaching staff and the FAW have done in Switzerland.
“Women’s football is on track to be the second largest team sport in the world. We’ve got to do something different here. To be able to turn that national interest and national pride and put it into our domestic game has to be a priority for us.
“The game deserves it, and our job is to give it a platform and make it a top league that the nation can be proud of.”
