FAW begins wide-ranging reforms to way Welsh football is run

Williams, 57, was voted president last June after serving with the FAW Council for more than two decades and having sat as vice-president in recent years.

A month after Williams’ election, the FAW also appointed a new chief executive, Noel Mooney.

Between March and September 2021, the FAW commissioned the independent organisational review, entitled ‘A Sustainable Association for the Future’, which led to the 80 recommended changes.

The FAW has previously been criticised for its structure with the emphasis on its traditional council, its ‘shareholders’ that effectively own the association.

Now more top-level decisions will be overseen by a board, including three non-executive independent directors.

With Wales hoping to add World Cup qualification to appearances at the past two European Championships – as well as a boom in the women’s game – Williams says there was an appetite for the FAW to capitalise on their progress and that “the fact the shareholders have bitten the bullet, they’ve embraced it, they’ve signed it off, says one thing for the future of the game”.

He believes it could open the door to younger voices, with the shareholders still playing a key community role in the governance process.

Yet the FAW hopes the changes to the way it is run will ensure efficiency of finances and resources, as well as helping it meet targets laid out in a recent strategic plan which includes boosting participation numbers and improving facilities.

The review took on board surveys across Welsh football – including fans – as well as research into other associations and sports.

It has led to the shake-up Williams says has been needed.

“If you wind the clock back to 2015, we underwent a governance review then, of which I was part of the steering group,” he says.

“And that, at that stage, was a massive step in taking the association forward. When you create change, you’re not going to get it right first time.

“We knew when we undertook that bit of work that it was significant to change the operations of the FAW.

“From 2015 to today we’ve worked that process, but we realised and we recognised that there was the need to take the association forward once again due to the growth of football in Wales, the FAW as a business and the growth within the Trust.

“So hence the reason for the review to look at a more sustainable association of the future.”

According to an FAW statement, the 80 recommendations passed by its shareholders and ratified by its board have “provided a blueprint for change” and will deliver: