2016–17 Welsh Premier League

The 2016–17 Welsh Premier League (known as the Dafabet Welsh Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th season of the Welsh Premier League, the highest football league within Wales since its establishment in 1992. The New Saints are the defending champions. The fixtures were announced on 22 June 2016.[1] The season began on 12 August 2016 and ended on 22 April 2017; the Europa League play-offs will follow afterwards.

Welsh Premier League
Season2016–17
Dates12 August 2016 – 22 April 2017
ChampionsThe New Saints
(11th title)
RelegatedRhyl
Airbus UK Broughton
Champions LeagueThe New Saints
Europa LeagueConnah's Quay Nomads
Bala Town
Bangor City
Matches played192
Goals scored587 (3.06 per match)
Biggest home winThe New Saints 10–0 Rhyl
(28 August 2016)
Biggest away winAirbus UK Broughton 0–7 Newtown
(14 April 2017)
Highest scoringThe New Saints 10–0 Rhyl
(28 August 2016)
Bala Town 4–6 The New Saints
(22 April 2017)

Teams played each other twice on a home and away basis, before the league split into two groups at the end of January 2017 – the top six and the bottom six.

On 30 December 2016, The New Saints broke Ajax's 44-year-old world record for the longest winning streak in top-flight football with their 27th consecutive win in all competitions.[2] Their record run of 27 wins came to an end with a 3–3 draw on 14 January 2017.[3]

On 4 March 2017, The New Saints defeated Bangor 4–0 to clinch their sixth straight Welsh Premier League title and eleventh Welsh league title overall.[4]

This was the final season the league was sponsored by Dafabet.

Teams
Locations of the 2016–17 Welsh Premier League teams

Haverfordwest County and Port Talbot Town were relegated out of the Welsh Premier League the previous season, while Cefn Druids were promoted as winners of the Cymru Alliance and Cardiff Metropolitan University were promoted as winners of Welsh Football League Division One. It will be Cardiff Metropolitan University's debut campaign in the league under that name, although they were formerly members when known as Inter Cardiff.

Stadia and locations
TeamLocationStadiumCapacity
Aberystwyth Town Aberystwyth Park Avenue 5,000
Airbus UK Broughton Broughton The Airfield 1,600
Bala Town Bala Maes Tegid 3,000
Bangor City Bangor Nantporth 3,000
Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff Cyncoed Campus 1,620
Carmarthen Town Carmarthen Richmond Park 3,000
Cefn Druids Wrexham The Rock 3,000
Connah's Quay Nomads Connah's Quay Deeside Stadium 1,500
Llandudno Llandudno Park MBi Maesdu 1,013
Newtown Newtown Latham Park 5,000
Rhyl Rhyl The Corbett Sports Stadium 3,000
The New Saints Oswestry Park Hall 2,000

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1]
1 The New Saints (C) 32 28 1 3 101 26 +75 85 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Connah's Quay Nomads 32 16 10 6 45 24 +21 58 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
3 Bala Town 32 16 9 7 61 46 +15 57
4 Bangor City (O) 32 16 4 12 53 53 0 52 Qualification for the Europa League play-offs[lower-alpha 3]
5 Carmarthen Town 32 10 9 13 40 46 −6 39
6 Cardiff Metropolitan University 32 10 6 16 41 41 0 36
7 Newtown 32 12 9 11 59 41 +18 45 Qualification for the Europa League play-offs[lower-alpha 3]
8 Cefn Druids 32 9 12 11 40 48 −8 39
9 Llandudno 32 7 14 11 31 45 −14 35
10 Aberystwyth Town 32 10 4 18 41 63 −22 34
11 Rhyl (R) 32 8 6 18 38 76 −38 30 Relegation to the Cymru Alliance
12 Airbus UK Broughton (R) 32 5 6 21 37 78 −41 21
Source: Welsh Premier League, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Matches won; 5) Play-off.[5]
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (R) Relegated.
Notes:
  1. Teams played each other twice (22 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last 10 matches.
  2. Bala Town qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2016–17 Welsh Cup.
  3. Teams played for one spot in the Europa League first qualifying round.

Results

Teams play each other twice on a home and away basis, before the league split into two groups – the top six and the bottom six.

Matches 1–22
Home \ Away ABE AIR BAL BAN CMU CMR CDR CQN LND NTW RHL TNS
Aberystwyth Town — 3–1 1–3 0–3 0–2 0–3 0–1 1–3 0–0 1–0 4–0 1–5
Airbus UK Broughton 0–1 — 2–4 4–2 1–0 1–1 3–2 0–3 2–3 0–2 0–3 1–4
Bala Town 4–0 3–3 — 1–1 1–0 0–0 2–0 0–0 3–0 1–0 6–1 0–2
Bangor City 4–0 2–1 2–0 — 2–1 1–2 2–1 0–2 2–1 2–1 3–2 1–2
Cardiff Metropolitan University 1–0 2–0 0–1 4–0 — 1–3 5–0 1–2 1–1 2–1 4–0 1–2
Carmarthen Town 0–5 2–1 2–3 1–1 0–0 — 2–2 0–0 0–1 3–1 5–0 2–4
Cefn Druids 0–3 2–2 4–4 2–3 0–0 0–0 — 0–0 1–3 1–0 4–3 0–2
Connah's Quay Nomads 4–0 5–1 1–1 2–2 0–0 1–0 1–0 — 1–1 1–0 2–0 0–3
Llandudno 0–1 2–0 1–3 1–0 0–1 2–0 0–0 0–2 — 0–0 2–2 0–5
Newtown 2–2 2–4 0–0 1–2 0–1 4–2 1–1 2–1 0–0 — 3–3 3–3
Rhyl 3–1 3–1 2–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 0–3 1–2 0–0 1–3 — 1–2
The New Saints 2–1 4–0 5–1 4–0 3–1 2–1 4–0 3–0 5–0 1–0 10–0 —
Source: Welsh Premier League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–32

UEFA Europa League play-offs

Teams who finished in positions fourth to seventh at the end of the regular season participated in play-offs to determine the third participant for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, who qualified for the first qualifying round.

Semi-finals
Bangor City3–2Newtown
Taylor-Fletcher  5'
Nardiello  12'
Roberts  75'		 BBC Sport
Soccerway		 Boundford  19'
Mitchell  26'
Attendance: 638
Referee: Dean John
Carmarthen Town1–2Cardiff Metropolitan University
Griffiths  48' BBC Sport
Soccerway		 Roscrow  60'
Corsby  90+3'
Richmond Park, Carmarthen
Attendance: 417
Referee: Lee Evans

Final
Bangor City1–0Cardiff Metropolitan University
Rittenberg  31' BBC Sport
Soccerway
Attendance: 956
Referee: Bryn Markham-Jones

Season statistics

Top goalscorers
Rank Player Team Goals
1 Jason Oswell Newtown 22
2 Greg Draper The New Saints 15
Alex Darlington The New Saints
4 Mike Haynes Bala Town 14
5 Daniel Nardiello Bangor City 13
6 Adrian Cieslewicz The New Saints 12
7 Nick Rushton Connah's Quay Nomads/Newtown 11
Liam Thomas Carmarthen Town
9 Tony Gray Airbus UK Broughton 10
Ashley Ruane Cefn Druids
Henry Jones Bangor City

References

The league's rules are contained as a section of the Handbook of the Football Association of Wales.[6]

  1. "2016/17 Dafabet WPL Fixtures Unveiled". www.welshpremier.co.uk. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
  2. "Welsh Premier League: Champions New Saints break Ajax world record - BBC Sport". BBC Online. 30 December 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  3. "New Saints' world-record run of victories is ended by 3-3 draw with Newtown - BBC Sport". BBC Online. 14 January 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  4. "Welsh Premier League: The New Saints seal an 11th Welsh title - BBC Sport". BBC Online. 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  5. "Premier League 2016/2017 - Season rules". Scoresway. Archived from the original on 2 November 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  6. "Rules" (PDF). Welsh Premier League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
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