2016–17 Welsh Premier League
# 2016–17 Welsh Premier League

The 2016–17 Welsh Premier League (known as the Dafabet Welsh Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th season of the Welsh Premier League, the highest football league within Wales since its establishment in 1992. The New Saints are the defending champions. The fixtures were announced on 22 June 2016. The season began on 12 August 2016 and ended on 22 April 2017; the Europa League play-offs will follow afterwards.

Teams played each other twice on a home and away basis, before the league split into two groups at the end of January 2017 – the top six and the bottom six.

On 30 December 2016, The New Saints broke Ajax's 44-year-old world record for the longest winning streak in top-flight football with their 27th consecutive win in all competitions. Their record run of 27 wins came to an end with a 3–3 draw on 14 January 2017.

On 4 March 2017, The New Saints defeated Bangor 4–0 to clinch their sixth straight Welsh Premier League title and eleventh Welsh league title overall.

This was the final season the league was sponsored by Dafabet.

## Teams

Haverfordwest County and Port Talbot Town were relegated out of the Welsh Premier League the previous season, while Cefn Druids were promoted as winners of the Cymru Alliance and Cardiff Metropolitan University were promoted as winners of Welsh Football League Division One. It will be Cardiff Metropolitan University's debut campaign in the league under that name, although they were formerly members when known as Inter Cardiff.

### 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 |
| Cardiff Metropolitan University | Cardiff | Cyncoed Campus | 1,620 |
| Carmarthen Town | Carmarthen | Richmond Park | 3,000 |
| Cefn Druids | Wrexham | The Rock | 3,000 |
| Connah's Quay Nomads | Connah's Quay | Deeside Stadium | 1,500 |
| Llandudno | Llandudno | Park MBi Maesdu | 1,013 |
| Newtown | Newtown | Latham Park | 5,000 |
| Rhyl | Rhyl | The Corbett Sports Stadium | 3,000 |
| The New Saints | Oswestry | Park Hall | 2,000 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | The New Saints (C) | 32 | 28 | 1 | 3 | 101 | 26 | +75 | 85 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Connah's Quay Nomads | 32 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 45 | 24 | +21 | 58 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Bala Town | 32 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 61 | 46 | +15 | 57 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Bangor City (O) | 32 | 16 | 4 | 12 | 53 | 53 | 0 | 52 | Qualification for the Europa League play-offs |
| 5 | Carmarthen Town | 32 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 40 | 46 | −6 | 39 | Qualification for the Europa League play-offs |
| 6 | Cardiff Metropolitan University | 32 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 41 | 41 | 0 | 36 | Qualification for the Europa League play-offs |
| 7 | Newtown | 32 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 59 | 41 | +18 | 45 | Qualification for the Europa League play-offs |
| 8 | Cefn Druids | 32 | 9 | 12 | 11 | 40 | 48 | −8 | 39 | |
| 9 | Llandudno | 32 | 7 | 14 | 11 | 31 | 45 | −14 | 35 | |
| 10 | Aberystwyth Town | 32 | 10 | 4 | 18 | 41 | 63 | −22 | 34 | |
| 11 | Rhyl (R) | 32 | 8 | 6 | 18 | 38 | 76 | −38 | 30 | Relegation to the Cymru Alliance |
| 12 | Airbus UK Broughton (R) | 32 | 5 | 6 | 21 | 37 | 78 | −41 | 21 | Relegation to the Cymru Alliance |

* ↑ Teams played each other twice (22 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last 10 matches.
* ↑ Bala Town qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2016–17 Welsh Cup.
* 1 2 Teams played for one spot in the Europa League first qualifying round.

## Results

Teams play 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 | CMU | CMR | CDR | CQN | LND | NTW | RHL | TNS |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Aberystwyth Town | — | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1–5 |
| Airbus UK Broughton | 0–1 | — | 2–4 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–4 |
| Bala Town | 4–0 | 3–3 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 6–1 | 0–2 |
| Bangor City | 4–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | — | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–2 |
| Cardiff Metropolitan University | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 | — | 1–3 | 5–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–2 |
| Carmarthen Town | 0–5 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 5–0 | 2–4 |
| Cefn Druids | 0–3 | 2–2 | 4–4 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 4–3 | 0–2 |
| Connah's Quay Nomads | 4–0 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–3 |
| Llandudno | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | — | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–5 |
| Newtown | 2–2 | 2–4 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | — | 3–3 | 3–3 |
| Rhyl | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | — | 1–2 |
| The New Saints | 2–1 | 4–0 | 5–1 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 10–0 | — |

## 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 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, who qualified for the first qualifying round.

## Season statistics

### Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Team | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Jason Oswell | Newtown | 22 |
| 2 | Greg Draper | The New Saints | 15 |
| 2 | Alex Darlington | The New Saints | 15 |
| 4 | Mike Haynes | Bala Town | 14 |
| 5 | Daniel Nardiello | Bangor City | 13 |
| 6 | Adrian Cieslewicz | The New Saints | 12 |
| 7 | Nick Rushton | Connah's Quay Nomads/Newtown | 11 |
| 7 | Liam Thomas | Carmarthen Town | 11 |
| 9 | Tony Gray | Airbus UK Broughton | 10 |
| 9 | Ashley Ruane | Cefn Druids | 10 |
| 9 | Henry Jones | Bangor City | 10 |
