2022–23 Cymru Premier

The 2022–23 Cymru Premier (Welsh: Uwch Gynghrair Cymru 2022–23) (known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons) will be the 31st season of the Cymru Premier (formally known as the Welsh Premier League), the highest football league within Wales since its establishment in 1992. The New Saints are the defending champions. Teams play each other twice on a home and away basis, before the league splits into two groups after phase 1 matches are completed.

Cymru Premier
Uwch Gynghrair Cymru

Season	2022–23
Dates	12 August 2022 –
Matches played	66
Goals scored	192 (2.91 per match)
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

Teams

Twelve teams will compete in the league – the top ten teams from the previous season, and one team each promoted from the second tier, the Cymru North and Cymru South.

The two bottom placed teams from the 2021–22 season, Cefn Druids^[1] and Barry Town United,^[2] were relegated to the Cymru North and the Cymru South respectively for the 2022–23 season.

Airbus UK, winners of the 2021–22 Cymru North were promoted to the league. Due to 2021-22 Cymru South champions Llantwit Major's failure to achieve a tier one licence, runners-up Pontypridd Town were promoted in their place.^[2]

Team changes

To Cymru Premier Promoted from the Cymru North Airbus UK Promoted from the Cymru South Pontypridd Town

From Cymru Premier Relegated to the Cymru North Cefn Druids Relegated to the Cymru South Barry Town

Stadia and locations

 

 

Aberystwyth
Town

 

Airbus UK

 

Bala Town

 

Caernarfon Town

 

Cardiff Metropolitan University

 

Connah's Quay Nomads

 

Flint Town United

 

Haverfordwest County

 

Newtown

 

Penybont

 

Pontypridd United

 

The New Saints

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Locations of the 2022–23 Cymru Premier teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Aberystwyth Town	Aberystwyth	Park Avenue	5,000
Airbus UK	Broughton	The Airfield	1,600
Bala Town	Bala	Maes Tegid	3,000
Caernarfon Town	Caernarfon	The Oval	3,000
Cardiff Metropolitan University	Cyncoed	Cyncoed Campus	1,620
Connah's Quay Nomads	Connah's Quay	Deeside Stadium	1,500
Flint Town United	Flint	Cae-y-Castell	1,000
Haverfordwest County	Haverfordwest	Bridge Meadow Stadium	2,100
Newtown	Newtown	Latham Park	5,000
Penybont	Bridgend	Bryntirion Park	3,000
Pontypridd United	Treforest	USW Sports Park	1,000
The New Saints	Oswestry	Park Hall	2,034

Personnel and kits

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Front shirt sponsor
Aberystwyth Town	Anthony Williams	Jack Thorn	Acerbis	Aberystwyth University
Airbus UK	Jamie Reed	Steve Tomassen	Umbro	Gardner Aerospace
Bala Town	Colin Caton	Chris Venables	Macron	Aykroyd's
Caernarfon Town	Huw Griffiths	Dion Donohue	Errea	Gofal Bro Cyf
Cardiff Metropolitan University	Ryan Jenkins	Chris Baker	Errea	Cardiff Metropolitan University
Connah's Quay Nomads	Neil Gibson	George Horan	Nike	Educate Group
Flint Town United	Lee Fowler	James Owen	Macron	Essity
Haverfordwest County	Tony Pennock	Dylan Rees	Joma	West Wales Properties
Newtown	Chris Hughes	Craig Williams	Errea	Control Techniques
Penybont	Rhys Griffiths	Kane Owen	Macron	Nathaniel Car Sales
Pontypridd United	Andrew Stokes	Clayton Green	Joma	UPVCDIRECT.CO.UK
The New Saints	Craig Harrison	Chris Marriott	Legea	SiFi Networks

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Pontypridd United	Jonathan Jones	Resigned	9 May 2022^[3]	Pre-season	Andrew Stokes	16 May 2022^[4]
Aberystwyth Town	Antonio Corbisiero		12 May 2022^[5]		Anthony Williams	28 May 2022^[6]
Haverfordwest County	Nicky Hayen	Signed for   Club NXT	15 June 2022^[7]		Tony Pennock	1 July 2022
Flint Town United	Neil Gibson	Resigned	16 June 2022^[8]		Lee Fowler	17 June 2022^[9]
Cardiff Metropolitan University	Christian Edwards		30 June 2022^[10]		Ryan Jenkins	29 June 2022^[11]
The New Saints	Anthony Limbrick	Sacked	28 July 2022^[12]		Craig Harrison	4 August 2022^[13]
Connah's Quay Nomads	Craig Harrison	Hired by TNS	4 August 2022^[14]		Neil Gibson	4 August 2022^[15]
Airbus UK Broughton	Steve O'Shaughnessy	Sacked	28 July 2022^[16]	12th	Jamie Reed	19 October 2022^[17]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification^[a]
1	The New Saints (X)	21	18	3	0	80	8	+72	57	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Connah's Quay Nomads (X)	21	13	5	3	32	12	+20	44	Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
3	Cardiff Metropolitan University (X)	22	13	2	7	29	29	0	41	Qualification to the European place play-offs
4	Bala Town (X)	21	12	4	5	42	18	+24	40
5	Penybont (X)	21	11	5	5	34	19	+15	38
6	Newtown (X)	21	10	3	8	41	36	+5	33
7	Caernarfon Town (Y)	22	8	1	13	33	41	−8	25
8	Haverfordwest County (Y)	21	7	3	11	27	34	−7	24
9	Flint Town United (Y)	22	6	6	10	24	37	−13	24
10	Aberystwyth Town (Y)	22	7	1	14	23	58	−35	22
11	Pontypridd United (Y)	22	6	2	14	22	42	−20	20	Relegation to Cymru North or Cymru South
12	Airbus UK Broughton (Y)	22	0	1	21	13	66	−53	−2^[b]

Updated to match(es) played on 21 January 2023. Source: Cymru Premier
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Goals scored; 5) Matches won.
(X) Assured of a top six place; (Y) Assured of a bottom six place
Notes:

1. Teams play each other twice (22 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).^[18]
2. Airbus UK Broughton were deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player against Caernarfon Town on 2 September 2022.^[19]

Results

Matches 1–22

Home \ Away	ABE	AIR	BAL	CAE	CMU	CQN	FTU	HAV	NTW	PYB	PON	TNS
Aberystwyth Town	—	2–1	1–4	2–1	0–4	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	0–3	2–1	0–2
Airbus UK Broughton	1–2	—	0–6	0–3	0–2	1–2	1–3	1–2	4–4	0–3	0–4	0–8
Bala Town	3–0	2–1	—	3–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	1–1	3–0	0–5
Caernarfon Town	2–1	3–1	1–5	—	5–1	0–2	2–0	2–1	2–3	0–2	2–0	0–1
Cardiff Metropolitan University	2–1	3–1	1–0	0–3	—	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	3–0	0–7
Connah's Quay Nomads	3–0	1–0	1–0	3–3	2–0	—	2–0	1–0	3–1	2–0	1–0	1–1
Flint Town United	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	—	0–1	1–4	1–1	4–1	1–8
Haverfordwest County	3–1	3–0	1–4	1–0	1–0	31 Jan	1–1	—	2–3	2–1	1–1	1–3
Newtown	6–1	2–1	0–2	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	2–0	—	2–3	4–2	0–0
Penybont	3–1	2–0	2–0	5–1	1–3	0–1	2–1	3–2	28 Jan	—	1–1	0–0
Pontypridd United	2–1	1–0	2–1	3–1	0–1	0–5	0–1	3–2	1–4	0–1	—	0–2
The New Saints	11–0	7–0	31 Jan	3–0	4–0	2–1	6–2	3–1	4–1	1–0	2–0	—

Updated to match(es) played on 21 January 2023. Source: Cymru Premier
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–32

Top six Home \ Away BAL CMU CQN NTW PYB TNS Bala Town — Cardiff Metropolitan University — Connah's Quay Nomads — Newtown — Penybont — The New Saints — First match(es) will be played on 11 February 2023. Source: Cymru Premier Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom six Home \ Away ABE AIR CAE FTU HAV PON Aberystwyth Town — Airbus UK Broughton — Caernarfon Town — Flint Town United — Haverfordwest County — Pontypridd United — First match(es) will be played on 11 February 2023. Source: Cymru Premier Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[20]
1	Declan McManus	The New Saints	19
2	Aaron Williams	Newtown	13
3	Ryan Brobbel	The New Saints	12
4	Ben Clark	The New Saints	11
5	Michael Wilde	Connah's Quay Nomads	10

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Sam Jones	Cardiff Met	Aberystwyth Town	0–4 (A)	20 August 2022
Adrian Cieślewicz	The New Saints	Cardiff Met	0–7 (A)	17 September 2022
George Newell	Bala Town	Airbus UK	0–6 (A)	30 September 2022
Ben Ahmun	Pontypridd United	Airbus UK	0–4 (A)	29 October 2022
Louis Robles	Newtown	Pontypridd United	4–2 (H)	16 December 2022
Ben Clark	The New Saints	Airbus UK	7–0 (H)	26 December 2022
Ryan Brobbel	The New Saints	Airbus UK	0–8 (A)	31 December 2022
Declan McManus	The New Saints	Flint Town United	1–8 (A)	10 January 2023

Notes

(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Most assists

As of 02 January 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Ryan Brobbel	The New Saints	12
2	Lassana Mendes	Bala Town	11
3	Daniel Redmond	The New Saints	9
4	Ryan Stratulis	Connah's Quay	7
5	Kane Owen	Penybont	6
	Danny Holmes	Connah's Quay

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Ryan Jenkins	Cardiff Met	Sam Jones	Cardiff Met
September	Colin Caton	Bala Town	David Edwards	Bala Town
October	Neil Gibson	Connah's Quay	Andy Firth	Connah's Quay
November	Tony Pennock	Haverfordwest	Zeli Ismail	Newtown

References

1. "Cefn Druids Relegated from the JD Cymru Premier League". Cefn Druids. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
2. "Pontypridd Town promoted to Cymru Premier and Barry relegated". Y Clwb Pêl-Droed. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
3. "Jonathan Jones stands down as manager of Pontypridd Town". Y Clwb Pêl-Droed. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
4. Jones, Harrison (16 May 2022). "Pontypridd Town name Pontardawe boss as their new first-team manager". Y Clwb Pel-Droed. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
5. "Corbs resigns as first team manager". Aberystwyth Town. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
6. James, Aled (28 May 2022). "Aberystwyth Town unveil former Crawley Town, Portsmouth and Cardiff Met coach as manager". Y Clwb Pel-Droed. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
7. "NICKY HAYEN NIEUWE HOOFDCOACH CLUB NXT" [NICKY HAYEN NEW HEAD COACH CLUB NXT] (in Dutch). clubbrugge.be. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
8. "Cymru Premier: Neil Gibson leaves Flint Town manager role". BBC. 16 June 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
9. "Former Wrexham midfielder Lee Fowler appointed new Flint Town United manager". Deeside.com. 17 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
10. "Christian Edwards to relinquish Cardiff Met duties at end of season". Y Clwb Pêl-Droed. 13 August 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
11. "Ryan Jenkins succeeds Christian Edwards as Cardiff Met boss". BBC Sport. 29 June 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
12. "Club Statement: Anthony Limbrick". The New Saints. 28 July 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
13. "The return of the king". The New Saints. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
14. "The return of the king". The New Saints. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
15. "CLUB STATEMENT: Nomads appoint Gibson as new manager". Connah's Quay Nomads. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
16. "Steve O'Shaughnessy: Airbus part company with manager". BBC Sport. 24 September 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
17. "Cymru Premier: Jamie Reed appointed Airbus UK manager". BBC Sport. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
18. "Cymru Premier". Handbook Cymru. FAW. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
19. "Cymru Premier: Airbus UK deducted three points over ineligible player". BBC. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
20. "Top Scorers - Welsh Premier League - Football". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2019-12-24.