North Wales football star Nathan Craig gets his boots back on for 2026!
More than four years after he last played competitive football, North Wales great Nathan Craig is poised for a comeback in 2026.
The former Everton, Torquay United, Caernarfon Town and Wales Under-21 ace has joined Tier 5 club Mountain Rangers as a player-coach.
Now 34, Craig’s last game was for Porthmadog in October 2021.
In recent years he has developed his Pêl-droed Nathan Craig Football soccer school into a very successful, national award-winning venture.
Caernarfon-based Mountain Rangers sit fourth in North Wales Coast West League Division One and hope the addition of Craig will help secure them promotion to Tier 4.
The Cae Gors club announced on social media: “We are extremely proud to announce the signing of Nathan Craig to Mountain Rangers.
“Former Caernarfon Town captain, having played over 200 games for the club, he’ll be coming out of retirement to try and help Rangers win promotion to tier 4.
“Nathan will be signing as a player/coach and can’t wait to get the new year off to a good start.”
Born October 25, 1991, Craig is a dynamic attacking left-back or midfielder with a penchant for scoring spectacular goals from set-pieces.
He joined Everton aged 12 and progressed through the ranks, becoming a reserves regular and full-time pro.
The Caernarfon lad made his competitive first-team debut versus BATE Borisov of Belarus on December 17, 2009 in the UEFA Europa League.
After being released by Everton in summer 2011, he switched to hometown club Caernarfon Town, then in the Welsh Alliance.
Nathan again turned professional at Torquay United in 2012 and went on to make 47 appearances for the Plainmoor outfit.
Following the club’s relegation to the Conference in May 2014, Nathan, along with seven other team-mates, was placed on the transfer list. In June 2014, following the player’s request, his contract was mutually terminated.
He went on loan to Dorchester Town before returning to Caernarfon to take up the new post of Football in the Community Director and re-signing for the club.
In 2015/16, he notched 16 goals in 35 outings as Town won the Huws Gray Alliance title.
The 2016/17 campaign brought 19 goals in 37 matches, then in 2017-18, as the Cofis scooped the HGA crown again, the former international scored 21 times in 34 games.
Town were back in the Welsh Premier in 2018-19 and Craig bagged 14 goals and made the Team of the Season subs bench. He reached 200 appearances for the Canaries during the season.
In all, Nathan made 218 first-team appearances for Caernarfon and scored a superb 87 goals.
He earned 11 caps for Wales Under-17’s, nine for the Under-19’s and four at under-21 level.
In 2020-21, Nathan produced the perfect start for new club Flint Town United when he scored the winner on his debut against Newtown. However, in December 2020, he left Cae-y-Castell due to work commitments.
After a very brief return to Caernarfon, Craig signed for Porthmadog and scored twice on his debut in a 9-0 Welsh Cup victory – against Mountain Rangers!
He went on to make eight more appearances for Port, scoring once, before calling it a day to focus on his soccer school, which has been a tremendous success.