Wales Women’s national team set to compete in the 2022 Pinatar Cup

Gemma Grainger’s side will play three matches during the February international window as they enter the Pinatar Cup tournament for the first time.

Wales will start the eight-team tournament in southeast Spain against Scotland on Wednesday February 16th. The two sides previously met in Parc y Scarlets last June when the Dragons lost 1-0 to the Tartan Army who have recently competed in a FIFA Women’s World Cup and in a UEFA Women’s European Championship.

The tournament is a knockout format but placement matches will guarantee three fixtures for every team. Wales’ second match will be against either Belgium or Slovakia on Saturday February 19th before a third match against either Russia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Hungary on Tuesday February 22nd.

The Dragons will use the matches to prepare for their remaining four 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers. Grainger’s side currently sit second in the group and will face top of the table France at home on Friday April 8th with a venue still to be announced.

Wales Women’s manager Gemma Grainger spoke about using this opportunity to prepare ahead of the upcoming World Cup in 2023.

“We see the three games at Pinatar as an opportunity to help us continue with our preparations to qualify and compete for a World Cup. It’s a great opportunity to play against higher ranked opposition, and we’re looking to expose ourselves to those opportunities as often as possible.”

“The players will be excited for this. It’s a tournament environment and we want to qualify and compete in major tournaments. Three games in six days effectively replicates a major tournament so we’re going to use that environment to get everything we can out of it, both on and off the pitch.”

Wales’ fixtures

Wales v Scotland – 16/2/22 – 14:30 – Pinatar Arena
Wales v Belgium/Slovakia – 19/2/22 – TBC – Pinatar Arena
Waler v TBC* – 22/2/22 – TBC – Pinatar Arena or La Manga
*Russia, Poland, Republic of Ireland or Hungary

If a match is a draw after 90 minutes, it will be decided by a penalty shoot-out.

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