Will Wales change national football team name to Cymru?

The Wales national football team is set to play their first World Cup finals in 64 years when the team sets foot in Qatar later this month. Gareth Bale’s team, who last qualified for the World Cup in 1958, will be looking to make their second appearance memorable.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar could also be the last time the national team is referred to as “Wales”. Following big event, ‘Wales’ could potentially take on the new name ‘Cymru’.

What does Cymru mean?

The word Cymru literally means ‘the people’ and is the name for Wales in the Welsh language.

It is phonetically pronounced as ‘kum-ri’ or ‘come-ree’. You can listen to a pronunciation below.

Will Wales football team change their name to Cymru?

The talk of the town is that Wales team could change their name to Cymru after the 2022 World Cup. Cymru is how they are referred to as locally, including in their own website and social media.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) uses Cymru at its headquarters as well as in official communication and documentation.

FAW chief executive Noel Mooney touched upon subject recently and said: “The team should always be called Cymru, that’s what we call it here.

“Our view at the moment is that domestically we’re clearly called Cymru. That’s what we call our national teams.

“If you look at our website, how we talk about ourselves, we are very much Cymru. Internationally we feel we have a bit more work to do yet. So we are going to this World Cup as Wales.

“But I think 2023 will be a year when we have a good discussion with all the different stakeholders – whether that’s governments, our own boards, councils and decision-making bodies, staff, club and players.”

Mooney’s words clearly indicate that a change of name cannot be ruled and it is likely to be discussed further after the World Cup ends and the new year begins.

If Wales become Cymru soon, it wouldn’t be the first time such a change has happened. Earlier this year, FIFA and UEFA approved Turkey’s action of dropping the anglicised version of their name and rebranding themselves as Turkiye.

Outside the football world, similar changes in country names have occurred throughout the world’s history. Persia became Iran, Ceylon became Sri Lanka and Holland is now the Netherlands.

Do other Wales teams use Cymru as their name?

All national teams representing the Welsh are officially known by the anglicised name Wales. The Wales national team could lead the way as they plot a rebranding in 2023 as part of a renaissance of the Welsh language which involves a sense of great pride.