Bala Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Bala) is a Welsh

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team from

Bala, Gwynedd Bala ( cy, Y Bala) is a town and community in Gwynedd, Wales. Formerly an urban district, Bala lies in the historic county of Merionethshire, at the north end of Bala Lake ( cy, Llyn Tegid). According to the 2021 Census, Bala had a population ...

, who play in the

Cymru Premier The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

. They play their home games at

Maes Tegid Maes Tegid ( en, Tegid Field) is a community playing field in Bala, Wales. It is currently used mostly for football matches, and is the home ground of Bala Town (). The stadium holds 3,000 people, with 504 seats and has been used by Bala Town ...

History

For a full history see; '' List of Bala Town FC seasons'' Although the current Bala Town was formed in 1880, there is record of a football club competing in the 1877–78 Welsh Cup, losing to

Corwen Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen is part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn mountains. The town is situated west of Llango ...

after two replays. After Bala North End, Bala South End and Bala Thursday's merged, Bala Town's first available league status record is playing in the

Welsh National League (North) The Welsh National League (North) was a football league in north and central Wales which formed the first level of the Welsh football league system between 1921 and 1930, and was part of a short-lived plan to create a national football league in W ...

Division 2 East in the 1921–22 season. Bala Town moved to their current home,

, in the early 1950s and joined the Wrexham Alliance in 1950, however Bala Town had to wait for more than a century until they were promoted to the second tier of Welsh football, into the

Cymru Alliance The Cymru Alliance League (known for sponsorship reasons as Huws Gray Alliance) was a football league in north and central Wales which formed the second level of the Welsh football league system. From the 2019/20 season onwards, it was replaced ...

at the end of the 2003–04 season. After only four seasons in the Cymru Alliance, Bala Town sealed promoted to the

Bala Town secured European football for the first time in their history after a

John Irving John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of ''The World According to G ...

goal in the 89th minute was enough to see off Port Talbot Town 2–1 to ensure the Lakesiders a European place. Bala Town were drawn against Estonian outfit

Levadia Tallinn Football Club Infonet Levadia Tallinn, commonly known as FCI Levadia, or simply as Levadia, is a professional football club based in Tallinn, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home grou ...

in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

first qualifying round but after winning the home leg 1–0, they lost 3–1 in the reverse fixture in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

and were eliminated. In the 2014–15 season, the Lakesiders finished second, their highest ever league position, thus qualifying for the

2015–16 UEFA Europa League The 2015–16 UEFA Europa League was the 45th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the seventh season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2016 UEFA Europa League Final w ...

. Bala Town missed out the opportunity of playing Turkish giants

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

in the 2015–16 Europa League after losing on aggregate to

FC Differdange 03 Foussballclub Differdange 03 is a football club based in Differdange, Luxembourg. History Differdange 03 was formed in 2003 as an amalgam of two clubs from the city of Differdange: FA Red Boys Differdange and AS Differdange. When the clubs mer ...

after falling victim to an injury time Differdange goal, however Bala maintained a proud record of a 100% win percentage at "home", playing at

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Flintshire (historic), Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at ...

's Belle Vue stadium due to UEFA stadium requirements on both occasions, in Europe. After finishing second in the 2015–16 Cymru Premier they followed this success up by winning their first

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most ...

, beating

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...

2–1 in the final ending their 8 trophy winning streak.

Stadium

Bala Town have played at Maes Tegid in Bala since the 1950s. For European matches they use Rhyl's Belle Vue stadium due to UEFA stadium regulations. They lost a 2021–22 Europa Conference League qualifying match at Park Hall to Sligo Rovers on 8 July 2021.

European record

;Notes * PR: Preliminary round * 1Q: First qualifying round * 2Q: Second qualifying round

Current squad

Honours

: **Runners-up (3): 2014–15, 2015–16, 2021–22 *

**Winners (1): 2016–17 * Cymru Premier Cup: **Winners (1):

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

**Runners-up (2): 2013–14, 2014–15 *

**Winners (1): 2008–09 **Runners-up (2): 2006–07, 2007–08 * Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Premier Division **Winners (1): 2003-04 * North East Wales FA Challenge Cup **Winners (4): 1971–72, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08 * North East Wales FA Junior (Horace Wynne) Cup **Winners (1): 1996–97

References

External links

*
Welsh Premier Official site – Bala Town page.
{{Football in Wales Cymru Premier clubs Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Premier Division clubs Sport in Gwynedd Bala, Gwynedd Cymru Alliance clubs Welsh National League (North) clubs