Craig Bellamy's Ambitions and Welsh Football's Future
Craig Bellamy was right to sit down with Burnley in the summer. That is the firm view of Football Association of Wales chief football officer David Adams, who insists the Wales boss did nothing wrong by exploring a return to club management.
Bellamy, whose FAW deal runs to the end of Euro 2028, has never hidden his long‑term ambition. He wants the day‑to‑day grind of club football again. So when Burnley, a club he knows well, came calling as they searched for Scott Parker’s successor, he listened.
He spoke to the Clarets. He weighed it up. Then he stayed.
From the outside, the saga looked messy. Reports emerged that Bellamy had accepted the job. Confusion swirled over his future with Wales. Inside the FAW, Adams says the picture was very different.
“The way it played out was unfortunate, things get leaked these days,” Adams said on BBC’s Feast of Football podcast on BBC Sounds. The noise built as the days dragged on, but within the FAW, Bellamy’s stance remained consistent.
“Internally, Craig has always been very open and transparent about opportunities,” Adams explained. “We all know that Craig wants to eventually go and work in club football, he's made that very clear across his time here. For him to go and speak to Burnley was the right thing to do, knowing that he does want to do that at some point.”
Adams had already built a working relationship with Burnley chairman Alan Pace, not just during the summer talks but earlier in the year, when Bellamy left the Lancashire club in 2024 to take the Wales job. So when Burnley asked the question this time, there was no sense of betrayal from Cardiff.
“We were happy for Craig to go and speak to them,” Adams said. The problem came when the story broke before the decision. “Unfortunately, the way it played out was that they were saying he had accepted the job when he hadn't.
“Craig was telling us the same thing as that and then one morning he rang and said 'I'm staying'. Craig's very transparent, we speak a lot, we get on well, so that's how it landed really.”
Behind the calm words, there was a hard reality for the FAW to confront. They came close to losing the national team manager. They know it could happen again.
So Adams plans for it.
“Behind the scenes in my job, I have to be alert to these things and I have to have a list of people in the background that I'd speak to if [Bellamy's departure] ever materialised,” he said.
The FAW believe they have hit on a successful template for the national team over the past decade. The preference is clear: former internationals, steeped in the culture, leading the side.
“We've got a profile of what we're looking for, which we've been pretty successful in doing by selecting former international players into the role,” Adams said. “That's always our preference, to find someone who is connected to Wales, is passionate about Wales and has Wales in their heart. That's been a really good profile of manager to look at in the last 10 years and we would try and stick to that profile ideally.”
While Bellamy’s future will remain a talking point as 2028 approaches, Adams’ gaze is not fixed solely on the men’s side. Welsh football is in the middle of a landmark period for the women’s game, both on and off the pitch.
He described confirmation that Cardiff’s Principality Stadium will host the women’s Champions League final in 2029 as a “game-changer” for the country. The city has done it before: Cardiff City Stadium staged the final in 2017, the same year the men’s Champions League final came to Principality Stadium, rebranded as the National Stadium of Wales for Uefa events.
This time, the scale of the women’s event will land in a very different landscape.
“It's absolutely incredible, a game-changer for us,” Adams said. The numbers tell the story. “When I first came into the job, we were getting maybe 1,000 people at Rodney Parade for women's games. We got 15,000 at Cardiff City Stadium in this last campaign, so you can see the growth and how quickly the game is moving.”
The venues matter. So do the role models.
Adams believes young girls watching elite players at Cardiff City Stadium and Principality Stadium will feel the impact. He calls it “just inspirational for those players” – a visual proof that the pathway exists.
On the pitch, Wales’ women are already breaking new ground. Under Rhian Wilkinson, they have reached a major tournament for the first time, qualifying for Euro 2025 in Switzerland. The next target is clear: a first World Cup.
The 2027 qualifying campaign continues with a double header against Albania in October. Beyond that, the horizon stretches even further. The 2035 women’s World Cup will be staged in the United Kingdom, with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all hosting matches. Wales want to be there, and not just as hosts of the odd group game. They want to compete.
To do that, the FAW know the player pool must deepen and improve.
“Our goal is to create a pathway, which hasn't been there for women's football, where girls can actually play in a talent system which prepares them to play in tournament football on a consistent basis,” Adams said. The progress so far has been rapid, but he is blunt about the next step. “I don't think we're there yet, personally. I think what we've done in the last three years is fantastic, with the girls' regional programme.
“But now we've got to try and make sure the girls graduate out of that system and play in the top leagues across Europe. That's what gives you the best chance of qualifying consistently for major tournaments.”
From Bellamy’s club ambitions to Champions League finals and World Cup bids, the message from Adams is the same: Wales cannot stand still. The conversations, whether with Burnley or with teenage prospects eyeing Europe, are only just beginning.
