How they qualified: 1st Place – Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup, European Qualifier

Notable honours: Olympic bronze medallists (1908), 6th Place – EuroHockey Championships (1978, 1999, 2019), Silver medallists – EuroHockey Championship II (2017), 6th Place – Commonwealth Games (2022), 1st Place – Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup, European Qualifier (2022).

Rank in previous WC editions: Debutants

After decades of trying, Wales finally secured a first ever FIH Men’s World Cup qualification thanks to a tournament winning display at the European Qualification event on home soil in Cardiff. After claiming a 2-0 win against Italy in their quarter-final, Wales went head-to-head with Ireland, with the winner taking not only a place in the competition final but also one of the two World Cup tickets on offer at the event.

Wales fell behind in the very first minute of the match when Michael Robson fired home, but Joe Naughalty’s equaliser early in the second quarter proved to be enough to send the match to a winner-takes-all shoot-out. Successful efforts from Rupert Shipperley and Jack Pritchard gave Wales a 2-1 lead ahead of the final round, with goalkeeper Toby Reynolds-Cotterill doing enough to deny Ireland’s Lee Cole and create a moment of Welsh sporting history.

The team finished the competition on a glorious high by recording a 2-1 victory over higher-ranked France, fighting back from a goal down thanks to goals from Luke Hawker and Shipperley, the latter arriving just five minutes from the end.

Current Great Britain internationals Shipperley and Jacob Draper are both key players for Wales, as is penalty corner specialist Gareth Furlong, who is a regular source of goals. Despite being one of the lowest ranked teams in this competition, Wales have proven themselves more than capable of punching above their weight and are certainly not here to make up the numbers.

One to watch: Rupert Shipperley. A member of the Great Britain team that participated at the delayed Olympic Games 2020, Wales co-captain Shipperley is an energetic, combative attacking midfielder with a keen eye for goal.