Transport for Wales has been named the Football Association of Wales’s official travel partner, aiming to improve public transport for fans travelling to national matches and major Welsh fixtures.
TfW said it wants to support national and major Welsh fixtures with more rail services and additional capacity, and to make matchday travel greener, easier and more accessible. It also wants to engage with grassroots football in Wales on more sustainable travel, and over time develop easier ways for fans to buy tickets.
Support this autumn includes a dedicated 22:44 direct service from Cardiff Central to Holyhead after all three upcoming Wales home fixtures in the UEFA Nations League, following a trial during the World Cup play-offs. The service will run after:
- Thursday 1 October — Wales v Norway
- Sunday 4 October — Wales v Denmark
- Tuesday 17 November — Wales v Portugal
Supporters travelling on Sunday 4 October are advised to plan ahead, as the Cardiff Half Marathon will also take place earlier that day. Passengers should allow extra time for their journeys.
Lewis Brencher, Executive Director of Customer and Communications at TfW, said: “We understand how popular our rail services are for fans travelling to national games and also to major Welsh fixtures and we want to ensure that we’re providing the best service possible.
“As the FAW’s official travel partner we’ll continue to work collaboratively to provide more rail services and additional capacity for key fixtures.
“As part of the new partnership TW’s journey planning and ticketing services will now be integrated into the FAW’s app, letting supporters plan and book their travel to fixtures across Wales in one place.
“TfW is part of the fabric of life in Wales, connecting people to places and each other, and we see this partnership as a way of supporting Wales’s footballing culture and fans, and also of a way to engage with the grassroot game and help encourage them to use sustainable transport.”
Noel Mooney, CEO of the FAW, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with a fellow nation-building brand of Cymru in Transport For Wales with the clear objective of decarbonising fan and participant travel across our game wherever possible.
“As a collective, Cymru’s 120,000 grassroots footballers make millions of journeys a year to take part in matches and training sessions, while our fans travel from every corner of Cymru to watch their National Team represent them on the world stage.
“Through this partnership, TFW & FAW will reward sustainable travel practices at Club and National Team Level, motivating behaviour change to help make Welsh football carbon neutral, preserving the natural environment we need to keep playing football and enhancing the wellbeing of everyone in Wales.”
Supporters can plan and book journeys via the FAW app or the TfW app or website at tfw.wales.
