The Ardal Leagues are a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league in Wales. The word "ardal" translates as "district" in English, with Wales split into four regions at this level. They have clubs with amateur/semi-professional status and sit at the third level of the

Welsh football league system The Welsh football league system (or League system, pyramid) is a series of association football, football leagues with regular promotion and relegation between them. It consists of four main tiers, as well as lower local leagues. While most W ...

. The first year of their operation would have been 2020–21 but the 2020–21 Ardal North East season, 2020–21 Ardal North West season, 2020–21 Ardal South East season and 2020–21 Ardal South West season were all cancelled. The inaugural season was moved to 2021–22. The creation of the leagues mark the first time the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; ) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, its Wales women's national football team, correspo ...

owns and is administering tier 3 of the Welsh league system. These changes follow from a review of the Welsh football pyramid. To be eligible clubs need to meet the criteria for FAW tier 3 certification. The league is split into two leagues, covering North and South Wales. Both Northern and Southern leagues have two regionally-based sections of sixteen clubs each: *Ardal Northern ** Ardal North East ( 2024–25 Ardal NE season) ** Ardal North West ( 2024–25 Ardal NW season) *Ardal Southern ** Ardal South East ( 2024–25 Ardal SE season) ** Ardal South West ( 2024–25 Ardal SW season) The winners of each league are promoted to either the

Cymru North The Cymru North is a regional association football, football league in Wales, covering the northern half of the country. It initially had clubs with semi-professional status. Together with the Cymru South, it forms the second tier of the Welsh fo ...

or the

Cymru South The Cymru South is a regional association football, football league in Wales, covering the southern half of the country. It initially had clubs with semi-professional status. Together with the Cymru North, it forms the second tier of the Welsh fo ...

as long as they meet the FAW's tier 2 certification criteria. Subject to also meeting these criteria, the four runners-up clubs enter play-off matches with two of the clubs also gaining promotion (one from the north and one from the south). The Ardal Leagues structure replaced the former tier 3 leagues:

Welsh Football League Division One The Welsh Football League Division One, known as the Nathanielcars.co.uk Welsh League First Division for sponsorship reasons, was a association football, football league in South Wales. It formed the top division of the Welsh Football League and ...

, Mid Wales Football League Division One, Welsh Alliance League Division One and the Welsh National League Premier Division, leagues based in South Wales, Mid Wales, North West Wales and North East Wales respectively. Relegation from the Ardal Leagues is to six local tier 4 leagues, with three clubs relegated from each of the tier 3 leagues at the end of the season. The tier 4 leagues are run by each of the Area Associations of Welsh football, the West Wales Football Association, the South Wales Football Association, the Gwent County Football Association, the Central Wales Football Association, the North East Wales Football Association and the North Wales Coast Football Association.

Ardal League teams

On 10 July 2020 the FAW confirmed the 64 teams in the new tier 3 leagues. In an attempt to avoid dividing the current Mid-Wales teams across all four leagues, the North-East league contains a large contingent of the Mid-Wales teams. The North-West league contains the sides near the North Wales coast. After confirmation of their inclusion STM Sports announced on 27 July that they had folded, leaving only 15 sides in the South West league. On 3 August it was confirmed that Cardiff Draconians had been promoted from the

South Wales Alliance League The South Wales Premier League is a football league structure in South Wales, currently known for sponsorship reasons as ''The Highadmit Projects South Wales Premier League''. The top tier of the league, the Premier Division is at the fourth tie ...

to fill the remaining place in the league.
Since COVID-19-originated restrictions were put in place by the FAW, as from 10 August, clubs could have trained in groups of 15 and contact training would have been allowed at all-levels of football. However, competitive and exhibition matches were still not allowed to take place. Consequently, the FAW decided to cancel what was to be the Ardal Leagues' inaugural 2020–21 season on 4 February 2021, and on 26 March, Montgomery Town withdrew from the North East league for pandemic-related reasons. They were replaced by Cardiff Draconians, as the highest placed team from the Alliance League who had been awarded a licence.

2025–26 season

The following clubs are league members for the 2025–26 season.

Ardal NE

Bow Street Bow Street is a thoroughfare in Covent Garden, City of Westminster, Westminster, London. It connects Long Acre, Russell Street and Wellington Street, and is part of a route from St Giles, London, St Giles to Waterloo Bridge. The street was ...

Builth Wells Builth Wells (; ) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of the Wye Valley. In 20 ...

* Cefn Albion *

Corwen Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen was part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn mountains. The town is situated west of Llang ...

* Dolgellau Athletic * Kerry * Knighton Town * Lex XI *

Llandrindod Wells Llandrindod Wells (; ; ; ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales. It serves as the seat of Powys County Council, and is therefore the administrative centre of Powys. The town was Historic counties of Wales, historically in ...

* Llanfair United * Llangollen Town * Llanrhaeadr *

Llanuwchllyn Llanuwchllyn () is a village and Community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, Wales, near the southern end of Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid). It is one of the most sparsely populated communities in Wales. The electoral ward includes the small settlement ...

* Penycae * Radnor Valley * Rhos Aelwyd

Ardal NW

* Bangor City 1876 * Bethesda Athletic * Connah's Quay Town * Llangefni Town *

Llannefydd Llannefydd (sometimes ) is a village and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales. It is located on the border with Denbighshire, between the Afon Aled and River Elwy, north west of Denbigh, south west of St Asaph, sout ...

* Llanrwst United * Llay Welfare *

Mynydd Isa Mynydd Isa (; ) is a village in Flintshire, in north-east Wales. It lies between the county town of Mold, and Buckley (which it is contiguous with) in the community of Argoed which had a population of 5837 according to the 2011 census. Mynydd ...

* NFA * Penmaenmawr Phoenix *

Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...

* Prestatyn Town *

Pwllheli Pwllheli ( ; ) is a market town and community on the Llŷn Peninsula (), in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011, which declined slightly to 3,947 in 2021; a large proportion (81%) were Welsh language, Welsh speaking. ...

* St Asaph City * Trearddur Bay *

Y Felinheli Y Felinheli (), formerly known in English as Port Dinorwic, is a village and community beside the Menai Strait ( or ''Afon Menai'') between Bangor and Caernarfon in Gwynedd, northwest Wales. History Toponymy Etymologically, its name comes f ...

Ardal SE

* Abercarn United * Abergavenny Town * Abertillery Bluebirds * Blaenavon Blues * Brecon Corries * Caerphilly Athletic * Caldicot Town * Canton * Chepstow Town *

Croesyceiliog Croesyceiliog (; ) is a suburb and community of Cwmbran, Torfaen, Wales. Housing Croesyceiliog is primarily a residential district and contains a wide variety of housing from Victorian terraces and even older Welsh cottages to property built ...

Cwmbran Town Cwmbran ( ; , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was designated as a New Town in 1949 to provide new emp ...

* Goytre * Lliswerry * Risca United * Tredegar Town * Undy Athletic

Ardal SW

* AFC Llwydcoed *

Cardiff Airport Cardiff Airport () is an airport in Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan. It is the only airport offering commercial passenger services and cargo services in Wales. The airport is owned by the Welsh Government, operating it at arm's length as a commercia ...

* Cardiff Corinthians *

Cefn Cribwr Cefn Cribwr is a village and community in Bridgend County Borough in south Wales. The village is located about 5 miles (8 km) from the centre of Bridgend town, and in-between Bridgend and Pyle. Description The village is situated on a rid ...

* Clydach * Evans & Williams * Goytre United * Morriston Town * Penrhiwceiber Rangers * Pontardawe Town * Seven Sisters Onllwyn * South Gower *

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

* Taff’s Well *

Treherbert Treherbert () is a village and community (Wales), community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Historic counties of Wales, Historically part of Glamorgan. Treherbert is the upper mo ...

* Ynysygerwn

Map

League champions, runner-ups, relegated teams, and Fair Play winners

Ardal NE

Ardal NW

Ardal SE

Ardal SW

Promotion play-offs

Ardal Northern

Ardal Southern

References

External links

Ardal Northern twitter

Ardal Southern twitter

Ardal Northern Leagues

Y Clwb Pêl-droed
{{UEFA third leagues 2 2020 establishments in Wales Sports leagues established in 2020 Third-level football leagues in Europe

Ardal League teams

2025–26 season

Ardal NE

Ardal NW

Ardal SE

Ardal SW

Map

League champions, runner-ups, relegated teams, and Fair Play winners

Ardal NE

Ardal NW

Ardal SE

Ardal SW

Promotion play-offs

Ardal Northern

Ardal Southern

See also

References

External links