This is a record of Wales' results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
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The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
The Football Association of Wales is the third oldest in the world, having been founded in 1876. The foundation's first official international match was played between Scotland and Wales at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow. Wales have only played in one FIFA World Cup to date. During the preparations for the 1928 Olympic Football Tournament, FIFA ruled that all its member associations must provide "broken-time" payments to cover the expenses of players from their country who participated. In response to what they considered to be unacceptable interference, the football associations of Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland held a meeting at which they agreed to resign from FIFA. As a result, Wales did not compete in the three interwar World Cup competitions. The Football Association of Wales did not rejoin FIFA as a permanent member until 1946.
Records
* Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.Sweden 1958
Wales did not qualify as of right for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Due to several countries refusing to play Israel, FIFA ordered that Israel should play a qualification playoff against one of the second placed European teams. Wales were the European team drawn and won the playoff against Israel. Wales performed well at the finals tournament, advancing to the quarter-final and giving eventual winners Brazil their toughest test of the competition.