Welsh Cup is completely cancelled for first time in its 144-year history

The New Saints were the last Welsh Cup winners in 2018-19. Picture: FAW

The JD Welsh Cup has been cancelled for the 2020-21 season due to the impact of Covid-19.

It is the first time in the competition’s 144-year history that not a ball has been kicked.

The 2019-20 Welsh Cup reached the semi-final stage before being scrapped due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The latest announcement is good news for the club finishing third in the Cymru Premier this season as they will automatically qualify for the new UEFA Europa Conference League Qualifying Round.

And the 2020-21 FAW Girls Cup will go ahead as supervised children’s activity is now permitted under updated Covid regulations.

The Football Association of Wales National Cup Board (NCB) today announced the 2020/21 JD Welsh Cup competition is cancelled.

A statement said: “The decision was made as the ongoing public health crisis has made it impossible to make the JD Welsh Cup viable.

“Currently, whilst the country remains at Alert Level 4, only clubs with an ‘Elite Status’ designation are permitted to play under the Welsh Government Coronavirus Control Plan.

“As previously stated, following discussions and lobbying by the FAW, the Welsh Government have made revisions to the number of people who can gather indoors and outdoors at Alert Level 2 of their Coronavirus Control Plan. The 30 people outdoors and 15 people indoors limits have been lifted to 50 and 30 respectively.

“This is a significant development for the return of senior competitions and the FAW is currently reviewing the impact of this change on its roadmap for the return of football.

“UEFA confirmed to the FAW in writing on 29 March that taking into account the exceptional circumstances due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UEFA Executive Committee approved that if it would not be possible to determine a domestic cup winner on sporting merit, the highest ranking non-qualified domestic championship club will qualify automatically for the 2021/22 UEFA club competitions.

“As such, the 3rd placed team in the JD Cymru Premier League will automatically qualify for the new UEFA Europa Conference League Qualifying Round and teams in 4th to 7th will compete in the Play-Offs for the remaining UEFA Europa Conference League position, all subject to receiving a UEFA Club Licence.

“The NCB also decided to cancel the FAW Women’s Cup and FAW Futsal Cup competitions. Meanwhile, the FAW Girls’ Cup can go ahead as supervised children’s activity is now permitted. Therefore, the first round will take place on 11 April.”