2015–16 Welsh Premier League

Welsh Premier League
Season2015–16
ChampionsThe New Saints (10th title)
RelegatedPort Talbot Town
Haverfordwest County
Champions LeagueThe New Saints
Europa LeagueBala Town
Llandudno
Connah's Quay Nomads
Matches played180
Goals scored529 (2.94 per match)
Top goalscorerEngland Chris Venables (20)
Biggest home winConnah's Quay Nomads 5–0 Port Talbot Town (12 December 2015)
The New Saints 5–0 Airbus UK Broughton (27 February 2016)
Rhyl 5–0 Port Talbot Town (9 April 2016)
Biggest away winNewtown 0–6 The New Saints (13 February 2016)
Longest unbeaten runThe New Saints (21)
All statistics correct as of 9 April 2016.

The 2015–16 Welsh Premier League (known as the Dafabet Welsh Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season of the Welsh Premier League, the highest football league within Wales since its establishment in 1992. The New Saints were the defending champions.

Teams played each other twice on a home and away basis, before the league was split into two groups at the end of January 2016 – the top six and the bottom six.

Teams

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Location of the 2015-16 Welsh Premier League clubs

Cefn Druids and Prestatyn Town were relegated out of the Welsh Premier League the previous season, while Llandudno were promoted as winners of the Cymru Alliance and Haverfordwest County were promoted as winners of Welsh Football League Division One. It will be Llandudno's debut campaign in the league.

Stadia and locations

Team Location Stadium Capacity
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
Carmarthen Town Carmarthen Richmond Park 3,000
Connah's Quay Nomads Connah's Quay Deeside Stadium 1,500
Haverfordwest County Haverfordwest Bridge Meadow Stadium 2,000
Llandudno Llandudno Park MBi Maesdu 1,013
Newtown Newtown Latham Park 5,000
Port Talbot Town Port Talbot Victoria Road 6,000
Rhyl Rhyl The Corbett Sports Stadium 3,000
The New Saints Oswestry Park Hall 2,000

Personnel and kits

Team Head Coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsors
Aberystwyth Wales Ian Hughes Wales Stuart Jones Nike Cambrian Tyres
Airbus UK England Andy Preece England Andy Jones Macron Gardner Aerospace
Bala Wales Colin Caton Northern Ireland Conall Murtagh Joma Aykroyd's
Bangor Wales Neville Powell Wales Leon Clowes Macron Dafydd Hardy (home) Anglesey Sea Zoo (away)
Carmarthen Wales Mark Aizlewood Wales Kyle Bassett Macron Jeff White (home) Natwest Cymru (away)
Connah's Quay Nomads Scotland Andy Morrison England George Horan Macron Driving Force
Haverfordwest County Wales David Hughes Wales Dale Griffiths Kappa West Wales Properties.co.uk
Llandudno Wales Alan Morgan Wales Tom Dix Adidas The UPVC Outlet
Newtown Wales Chris Hughes England Matthew Cook Givova NEO/Elephant & Castle Hotel
Port Talbot Wales Andy Dyer Wales Liam McCreesh Macron Blanco's
Rhyl Wales Gareth Owen England Dean Keates Adidas VanTruck
TNS Wales Carl Darlington England Paul Harrison Legea PlanetHippo

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[a]
1 The New Saints (C) 32 18 10 4 72 24 +48 64 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round[b]
2 Bala Town 32 15 12 5 48 27 +21 57 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3 Llandudno 32 15 7 10 53 46 +7 52
4 Connah's Quay Nomads (O) 32 15 3 14 50 42 +8 48 Qualification for the European competition play-offs[c]
5 Newtown 32 11 9 12 46 54 −8 42
6 Airbus UK Broughton 32 12 6 14 46 55 −9 42
7 Carmarthen Town 32 14 5 13 45 52 −7 47 Qualification for the European competition play-offs[c]
8 Aberystwyth Town 32 13 7 12 51 47 +4 46
9 Bangor City 32 13 6 13 49 52 −3 45
10 Port Talbot Town (R) 32 10 9 13 39 56 −17 39 Relegation to Welsh Division One[d]
11 Rhyl 32 5 12 15 36 50 −14 27
12 Haverfordwest County (R) 32 5 6 21 27 57 −30 21 Relegation to Welsh Division One[d]
Source: Welsh Premier League, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Matches won; 5) Play-off.[2]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Teams played each other twice (22 matches), before the league was split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last 10 matches.
  2. ^ The New Saints qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2015–16 Welsh Cup. However, since they already qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners was passed down the league.
  3. ^ a b Teams played for a spot in the Europa League first qualifying round.
  4. ^ a b Rhyl were spared from relegation as Port Talbot Town failed to obtain a FAW domestic licence.[1]

Results

Teams played 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 CMR CQN HAV LND NTW PTA RHL TNS
Aberystwyth Town 1–2 1–1 4–0 1–2 1–1 1–2 1–4 1–2 1–3 3–1 0–4
Airbus UK Broughton 2–0 2–0 1–4 5–1 3–2 2–1 0–2 1–4 2–0 0–0 1–1
Bala Town 0–1 2–1 3–0 2–1 2–0 3–2 3–0 1–0 5–2 0–0 0–0
Bangor City 2–3 3–0 1–1 1–2 2–1 2–1 0–3 3–0 1–2 1–0 0–2
Carmarthen Town 0–3 2–3 0–0 2–1 1–0 4–1 2–4 0–2 0–0 1–1 1–6
Connah's Quay Nomads 1–2 1–1 2–1 1–3 4–0 2–1 2–1 0–2 5–0 3–1 2–0
Haverfordwest County 0–1 0–1 0–2 2–1 0–0 0–2 2–0 0–1 1–2 1–1 0–4
Llandudno 3–2 1–0 0–0 1–2 1–2 1–0 1–0 0–2 1–1 1–0 3–4
Newtown 0–0 0–3 2–3 0–3 4–1 4–2 3–0 0–3 1–1 1–2 2–2
Port Talbot Town 4–2 2–2 0–0 2–0 0–3 0–4 1–2 1–4 1–1 0–3 0–1
Rhyl 2–2 1–0 1–3 1–1 1–4 1–2 1–2 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–0
The New Saints 1–1 4–0 1–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–1 4–1 3–1 2–2
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 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, who will qualify for the first qualifying round.[3]

Semi-finals

Newtown1–2Airbus UK Broughton
Sutton 36' Report McGinn 14' (pen.), 38' (pen.)
Attendance: 221
Referee: Lee Evans
Connah's Quay Nomads2–0Carmarthen Town
Rushton 5'
Baynes 63'		 Report
Attendance: 708
Referee: Bryn Markham-Jones

Final

Connah's Quay Nomads1–0Airbus UK Broughton
Baynes 79' Soccerway
BBC Sport
Attendance: 904
Referee: Dean John

References

The league's rules are contained as a section of the Handbook of the Football Association of Wales.[4]

  1. ^ "FAW Club Licensing Appeals Body". welshpremier.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  2. ^ "Premier League 2015/2016 - Season rules". Scoresway. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  3. ^ "Play-Offs rest on Cup Final Winner - Welsh Premier League". Archived from the original on 2017-12-14. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
  4. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2015-05-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)