Cymru Women national football team return to Wrexham tonight to take on Sweden in the UEFA Women’s Nations League!
And just ahead of the match at the Cae Ras, two of the team’s stars have kindly donated some very special – and unusual – items to Wrexham’s new museum!
Both donations are from last autumn’s dramatic UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 play-off matches against Ireland, which saw Wales make history by reaching a major women’s tournament for the first time.
The victory over two legs secured Wales’ spot in the Euros, which will be held in Switzerland this summer.
The items donated to the museum include the boots worn by Lily Woodham, who scored a vital goal in the first leg against Ireland in Cardiff, and Gemma Evans’ tooth, which was knocked out during the second leg in Dublin.
Gemma and Lily handed the items over to the Museum Football Officer, Nick Jones, at Colliers Park, Gresford
Donations can “inspire the future stars of the Cymru team”
The boots and the tooth will now be part of Wrexham’s ‘Museum of Two Halves’, a brand new national attraction currently under development in the city centre.
The project will see the development of Wales’ first ever football museum, alongside an enhanced and expanded Wrexham Museum. The new museum is set to open in 2026.
As well as being the home of the now world-famous Wrexham AFC, and their stadium, Y Cae Ras, the oldest international stadium in the world still in use today, Wrexham is also the birthplace of the Football Association of Wales (FAW). The city is often referred to as ‘the spiritual home of Welsh football’.
Wrexham Museum is the custodian of the official Welsh Football Collection, which includes thousands of items from Welsh football history.
The development of the new football museum will provide brand new, state of the art galleries and display spaces for the collection which will be on display for all to enjoy.
Lily Woodham said: “It’s great that we’re able to support the Welsh football museum that will be opening next year. Qualifying for the EUROs was a career highlight and I’m so pleased that I can donate my goal scoring boots to go on display in the museum, hopefully inspiring the future stars of the Cymru team.”
FAW helping to grow Welsh Football Collection
Gemma’s tooth and Lily’s boots join an ever-growing list of items donated to the Welsh Football Collection by the FAW.
Over the years, the FAW’s donations have included some incredible artefacts. Some of the recent highlights include:
- Jess Fishlock and Sophie Ingle match issue shirts from the recent World Cup/Euros qualifiers.
- Pennants marking decades of Welsh national team matches, including Wales v Austria, ‘The Battle of Wrexham’ in 1955.
- Commemorative plate from the Ukrainian FA, marking the historic World Cup play-off match between the two sides in June 2022, when Wales qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1958.
- Gareth Bale’s match issue shirt from his final international appearance on Welsh soil – v Poland, 25 September 2022.
Quirky addition to the collection
Football Museum Officer at Wrexham Museum, Nick Jones, said: “Thanks to Gemma, Lily and the FAW for the donation of these fantastic objects to the Welsh Football Collection. It’s great to have items that connect closely to the women’s team and their breakthrough qualification for a first major tournament this summer.
The tooth is a quirky addition which I’m sure future visitors will be particularly interested in!”
Lead Member for Partnerships and Community Safety, Cllr Paul Roberts said: “We are hugely thankful to the FAW for their continued support of the new museum project and to the Cymru players for their brilliant new additions to our Welsh Football Collection.
“The new museum is set to draw thousands of new visitors to Wrexham every year and play a central role in the city’s flourishing cultural offer.
“The new football museum will celebrate the rich heritage of Welsh football, past and present, in all its diversity, from grassroots clubs to the national teams. New galleries will also be created to display the Wrexham Museum collections, which means an enhanced experience for visitors and a first-class, modern venue for discovering the story of our region of North East Wales.”
