Racecourse to host men’s UEFA U19 Championship tournament in 2026

The Football Association of Wales has been awarded the men’s UEFA U19 Championship tournament in 2026 following an announcement by UEFA which will be held across stadiums in North Wales to celebrate the FAW’s 150th anniversary.

The FAW is one of the oldest football federations in the world football having been founded on 2 February 1876 in Wrexham. The centrepiece stadium for the tournament will be The Racecourse Ground, the oldest international football stadium in the world.

The UEFA U19 Championship takes place between June and July each year with eight teams competing, seven teams that have progressed through two qualifying rounds, as well as the host nation. Therefore, Cymru can look forward to playing against the very best young talent from across the continent as the tournament is known for featuring the stars of the future, with Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappè and Erling Haarland all being previous participants.

It is anticipated that matches will take place at the following stadia:

The Racecourse, Wrexham

Nantporth Stadium, Bangor

Llanelian Road, Colwyn Bay

Deeside Stadium, Deeside

Central Park, Denbigh

Steve Williams, FAW President, said: “I’m very excited to see the UEFA U19 Championship come to north Wales. It’s an area with a rich football heritage and I’m sure football fans from across the region will be very excited to experience this tournament and assist us in delivering an excellent event.

“The FAW has experience of hosting UEFA events with the UEFA Women’s Under 19 Championship 2013, UEFA Super Cup 2014 and the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women’s Champions League Finals in 2017. The FAW has also recently hosted several youth mini-tournaments in the north Wales region, helping the locality to gain experience, build good practice and increasing clubs capacity for hosting.”

The FAW ignored our contact form submissions, despite offering to donate to charity if they replied, and Mr Mooney appears to have failed to take up ‘positive suggestions for Welsh football’.