Ashley Williams joins Craig Bellamy's Wales backroom team

WHAT HAPPENED
Craig Bellamy has added former Wales captain Ashley Williams to his new-look backroom staff. Bellamy described Williams as Wales' "greatest captain" of the modern era and said Williams, alongside Alan Sheehan, will help provide "a different dynamic" to the coaching team.

KEY CONTEXT
- Williams, 42, won 86 caps for Wales and wore the armband for more than half of those appearances. He captained Wales to the Euro 2016 semi-finals. He will not be adding to those caps and instead joins the coaching setup.
- Williams's coaching experience has been limited to informal roles; fans have also seen him as a Match of the Day pundit.
- Sheehan, a former full-back for Leeds, Leicester and Luton, has been out of work since November 2025 when he was sacked by Swansea City after a seven-month spell.
- The appointments follow the departures of James Rowberry, who has opted to focus on his role with Mark Robins at Stoke City, and Piet Cremers, who left to join Belgium's Club NXT in July. Bellamy said he had been keen to take on more of the tasks Cremers performed; Cremers had worked under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and alongside Bellamy and Vincent Kompany at Burnley.
- Former Wales striker Sam Vokes, a Euro 2016 team-mate, praised Williams's leadership: "He was a great leader in the dressing room and led by example... He will be able to speak to the lads that are going out in those environments because he led by example, and led in the trenches many times."
- Andrew Crofts, a former Wales midfielder and now Tottenham assistant, remains part of the Wales setup.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Wales enter Nations League openers against Portugal, Denmark and Norway, matches in which Bellamy has said his side will aim to shut out Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland. Bellamy has indicated the new arrivals will contribute to preparations and matchday work as the squad moves forward.