The Historic Making Strides by Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club's New Saints Team
This is a bit of humor for ya: The football techs from The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club are throwing a massive Euro Cup bash and setting a new record for Welsh football club history. Some major happenings are going down in Northern Ireland too.
Welsh football has consistently held its own on the international stage, but the domestic scene hasn't quite shined as brightly. But hey, the champs, The New Saints (the holy rollers), have put Wales on the map by becoming the first club from their region to advance to the group or league stage of a European Cup. They clinched it with a 0-0 draw at home against the Lithuanian team FK Panevezys, securing their spot after a 3-0 win in Lithuania.
Officially known as "The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club", they've been dipping their toes in European Cup qualifiers since 1996, first occasionally and then more frequently. But they had never crossed that final hurdle... until now. After getting knocked out in the second round of the Champions League qualifiers against Ferencvaros Budapest and the third round of the Europa League qualifiers against Petrocub Hincesti from Romania, they finally made it to the next level.
Following Wales' success, Northern Ireland's team, Larne FC, joined in by beating Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar 3-1 in the return leg (2-1 in the first leg) to achieve their first-ever European Cup group stage qualification.
Just four out of the 55 UEFA associations haven't managed to get a club to the European Cup group stage: Andorra, Malta, Montenegro, and San Marino. UE Santa Coloma from Andorra came close this time around, but they fell just short against Vikingur Reykjavik from Iceland during their match last Wednesday evening. Lincoln had already led Gibraltar to the European group stage in 2021.
The New Saints, hailing from Wales, have made history by becoming the first Welsh football club to advance to the group or league stage of a European Cup. Additionally, the triumph of The New Saints has brought even more pride to Wales, further cementing its reputation on the international football stage.
