Wales not set up to qualify until Ludlow success

Former Wales manager Jayne Ludlow believes the Football Association of Wales (FAW) women’s set up was not serious about qualifying for a major tournament when she was in charge, until the squad “shocked everyone” in the campaign for the 2019 World Cup.

Her team came within one game of reaching the finals in five years ago but lost their final decisive match against England at Rodney Parade to miss out.

However, speaking to a new BBC documentary series before Wales’ Euro 2025 play-off semi-final against Slovakia, Iconic: The Rise of the Women in Red, Ludlow insists that was never a realistic goal when she was first appointed because of how wide her responsibilities were.

“If the purpose was to employ me to get us to a big tournament then nobody should have ever thought that it was suitable to give me the age groups [as well],” Ludlow said.

Ludlow, who coached Women's Super League (WSL) side Reading for a year before taking the role, added: “Any knowledgeable person in football development or elite football would just laugh at you.

“I was naive, I was thankful for the opportunity to learn and develop but I had no acknowledgement of the challenges ahead and how to try and balance development and senior football, they’re completely different projects.

“The decision you make on one camp compared to the other is completely different, the preparation should be completely different and we had to try and balance that with a really small inexperienced staff group.

“So, was the ambition to qualify? I’ll be honest, for me it was this thing out there and because of my whole upbringing as an Arsenal football player, we would never sit in a changing room and say about trophies we want to win in a season, we’d focus on all of our processes.

“I honestly believe the reality of how well we did after four years in the system and building the system shocked everyone.

“It shocked the chief executive because he pretty much doubled my salary after it.”