FAW reserve football update – AI lends a hand!

The Football Association of Wales have reititerated their plans for reserve leagues this season.

Last week, Grassroots North Wales outlined the changes coming up in 2024-25.

The FAW have since released the following statement summarising the new measures.

It is no longer mandatory for Tier 3 clubs who have a Reserve team to enter the FAW Reserve Leagues

They instead have the option to enter Area Association leagues.

Default kick-off time has been changed to Saturday 11am

This is to avoid pitch-clashes with first-teams and allow for greater scheduling flexibility, however home clubs will have the opportunity to request alternative kick-off times/dates within the draft fixture period.

All leagues are now structured Geographically rather than by Tiers

There will therefore be a North West, North East, South West, South East and South Central league. There were not enough Central Wales clubs who entered for us to run a league in Central Wales this season. Central Wales clubs in Tiers 1-2 have been granted exemption, and are able to enter the Area Association leagues.

Reserve League Cups will be midweek competitions

This is because poor weather affected the Cups last season, with games having to be rescheduled for following weekends, which ultimately ate into the league season, meaning the Cups had to be paused in order to ensure league matches could be fulfilled. Clubs therefore must have access to a pitch with floodlights in order to enter these League Cup competitions this season.

AI software is being used to help generate fixtures

This should help to minimise any scheduling issues and pitch clashes etc, as rules are created to help us avoid certain scenarios.

• The changes to the Reserve League ahead of the 2024/25 season have already been presented to clubs, and the deadline for entry to the competition has now closed. We await the league line-ups.