Cardiff Met Football Club (), commonly known as Cardiff Met F.C., are a Welsh football club, based in Cyncoed, Cardiff that plays in the . The club badge features the bowman with the words "I lwyddo, rhaid chwarae" which is translated as "To succeed, [one] must play".

History

Origins: 1964-2000 Cardiff Met F.C. was originally founded sometime before 1964 as the Cardiff College of Education F.C. They made their Welsh Amateur Cup debut in 1964, defeating Pembroke Borough 3–2 in their inaugural game and Dunlop Semtex 3–0 in the third round before suffering elimination in round 4 at the hands of Merthyr Tydfil.

During the 1966–67 and 1969–70 seasons, Cardiff College of Education reached the final of the Welsh Amateur Cup every year, winning the cup on 2 occasions in 1968 and 1969 beating Welshpool and Tonyrefail Welfare respectively.

During the 1972–73 season, Cardiff College joined the second division of the Welsh Football League, finishing a creditable 7th (amongst 19 teams) in their first season. The following season the club ended the campaign in 10th place and again reached the final of the Welsh Amateur Cup, losing 2–1 to Whitchurch Alport. The 1974–75 season saw the club promoted to the second tier of Welsh football for the first time following a second-place finish behind eventual champions Blaenavon Blues, despite ending the season level on points.

The 1975–76 season saw the club complete a league and FAW Intermediate Cup double, scoring over 100 goals in the process. The promotion meant the club would be playing at the top level of Welsh Football for the first time in its history. However, after two seasons in the Welsh League South Premier Division, the 1978–79 season saw the team record only one win and its lowest ever points tally to finish bottom of the league. During this season, they renamed themselves to South Glamorgan Institute F.C. in 1979 when their host college (Cardiff) merged with neighbouring colleges.

In the following 7 seasons, the club recorded consistent mid-table finishes until the 1986–87 season when the club was once again relegated back to the third tier of Welsh football for the first time since 1974. Before the 1990 season, the college renamed itself to Cardiff Institute of Higher Education, so the club once again rebranded to Cardiff Institute of Higher Education F.C. for the 1990–1991 season.

Once again, the club was demoted to the Welsh League Division 3 following the inception of the League of Wales in 1992. It was not until the 1995–96 season that the club was promoted back to level 3 of the Welsh Pyramid, scoring 104 goals in 28 league games and without losing a game all season. Back-to-back promotions were confirmed the following season as the Archers secured a second-place finish, six points behind champions Bridgend Town.

Merge with Inter Cardiff: 2000-2012 After 3 seasons in Welsh League Division 1, it was announced that the club would be merging with Inter Cardiff to form a new club, UWIC Inter Cardiff, for the 2000–01 season of the League of Wales. With only 3 wins and 13 points, the club was relegated after one season. They returned to the Welsh League Division 1 where they remained until the 2006–07 campaign which saw the Archers demoted to Division 2.

In 2009, the club again rebranded to UWIC and appointed former professional footballer and Welsh international Christian Edwards as their Director of Football. Edwards was ably assisted by Professor Robyn Jones, who was part of the Sutton United team that dumped Coventry City out of the FA Cup in 1989. Initially, the club dropped back into Welsh League Division 3 due to a Cymru Premier restructure. Whilst the 2010–11 season ended with a mid table finish, the club equaled their best Welsh Cup showing by reaching the quarterfinals, only to lose 4–0 at the hands of GAP Connah's Quay.

Cardiff Metropolitan University F.C: 2012–present Preceding the 2012 season, the club rebranded to Cardiff Metropolitan University F.C., and immediately showed success by getting back to back champions in the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons.

Despite the club starting a 2014–15 campaign in Welsh League Division 1, they were unable to gain a third successive promotion and a chance to play at the top level of Welsh football following a loss of 5–0 to Aberdare Town.

The 2015–16 season began with the Archers as favourites to get promoted and despite being pushed all the way by both Barry and Goytre, promotion was sealed in late April with a 3–0 victory at Taff's Well to ensure Capital City representation in the Cymru Premier for the first time since the 2005–06 season.

The 2016–17 campaign picked up just one point from their first 6 matches with a goalless draw away to Cefn Druids. A run of 3 consecutive victories within a week proved the catalyst to not only ensuring survival but qualifying for the end of season Europa League Play-offs with a 6th-place finish. Met faced Carmarthen Town and despite going a goal down early in the second half, a sumptuous lob from Adam Roscrow and an injury time diving header from Charlie Corsby was enough to see the club through to face Bangor City in the final. The dream was shattered when Dean Rittenburg drilled home from 12 yards for the Citizens to give Bangor a 1 – 0 victory and a passport into the Europa League Qualifying round.

On 19 May 2019, Cardiff Met defeated Bala Town F.C. in a penalty shoot-out to qualify for the preliminary round of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, but lost to Progrés Niederkorn in the preliminary round due to the away goals rule. The club played their only home match in Europe to date at Cardiff International Sports Stadium.

League and cup history SeasonLeague ContestedLevelPldWDLGFGAGDPtsLeague PositionAvg. HomeAttendance1Welsh CupWelsh League CupLeading scorer11972–73Welsh League South Division Two336197108557 +28457th of 19??R1n/aunknown ??1973–74Welsh League South Division Two332115165648 +82710th of 17??R1n/aunknown ??1974–75Welsh League South Division Two334275211222 +90592nd of 18 Promoted??QRn/aunknown ??1975–76Welsh League South Division One234254510822 +86541st of 18 Promoted??R3n/aunknown ??1976–77Welsh League South Premier Division134159105438 +16394th of 18??R1n/aunknown ??1977–78Welsh League South Premier Division134117164857 −92913th of 18??R1n/aunknown ?? 1978–79Welsh League South Premier Division13417262588 −63918th of 18 Relegated??R1n/aunknown ??1979–80Welsh League South Division One234713143762 −252715th of 18??R1n/aunknown ??1980–81Welsh League South Division One234131384245 −3395th of 18??R3n/aunknown ??1981–82Welsh League South Division One2341281453530449th of 18??R2n/aunknown ??1982–83Welsh League South Division One232165117154 +173312th of 17??R3n/aunknown ??1983–84Welsh League South Premier Division236148147568 +7509th of 19??R1n/aunknown ??1984–85Welsh League South Premier Division234126165469 −154210th of 18??R2n/aunknown ??1985–86Welsh League South Premier Division23499164680 −343615th of 18??R2n/aunknown ?? 1986–87Welsh League South Premier Division23445252698 −721718th of 18 Relegated??R1n/aunknown ??1987–88Welsh League South Division One334211212477 −531718th of 18??R1n/aunknown ??1988–89Welsh League South Division One33496194074 −343315th of 18??R1n/aunknown ??1989–90Welsh League South Division One33296174063 −233314th of 17??R1n/aunknown ??1990–91Welsh League South Division Two332113184070 −303612th of 17??R1n/aunknown ??1991–92Welsh League South Division Two33277184167 −262814th of 17??R1n/aunknown ??1992–93Welsh Football League Division Three42611696349 +14395th of 14??QRn/aunknown ??1993–94Welsh Football League Division Three42646162872 −441812th of 14??n/an/aunknown ??1994–95Welsh Football League Division Three43017858235 +47554th of 16??QRn/aunknown ??1995–96Welsh Football League Division Three428262010416 +88801st of 15 Promoted??n/an/aunknown ??1996–97Welsh Football League Division Two33020558025 +55652nd of 16 Promoted??R1n/aunknown ??1997–98Welsh Football League Division One236187115935 +24617th of 19??R3n/aunknown ??1998–99Welsh Football League Division One234158114944 +5535th of 18??R2n/aunknown ??1999-00Welsh Football League Division One234108165082 −323815th of 18??R3n/aunknown ?? 2000–01 League of Wales 1 34 3 4 27 26 104 −78 13 18th of 18Relegated ?? R2 n/a unknown ?? 2001–02 Welsh Football LeagueDivision One 2 36 23 7 6 81 45 +36 76 3rd of 19 ?? R2 n/a unknown ?? 2002–03 Welsh Football LeagueDivision One 2 34 23 7 4 67 33 +34 76 3rd of 18 ?? R4 n/a unknown ?? 2003–04 Welsh Football LeagueDivision One 2 34 21 6 7 72 33 +39 69 4th of 18 ?? QF n/a unknown ?? 2004–05 Welsh Football LeagueDivision One 2 34 15 6 13 65 49 +16 51 9th of 18 ?? R2 n/a unknown ?? 2005–06 Welsh Football LeagueDivision One 2 34 16 6 12 61 52 +9 54 5th of 18 ?? R3 n/a unknown ?? 2006–07 Welsh Football LeagueDivision One 2 36 9 6 21 46 74 −28 33 16th of 19 ?? R2 n/a unknown ?? 2007–08 Welsh Football LeagueDivision Two 3 34 15 11 8 59 42 +17 56 5th of 18 ?? n/a n/a unknown ?? 2008–09 Welsh Football LeagueDivision Two 3 34 14 4 16 76 67 +9 46 10th of 182 ?? R1 n/a unknown ?? 2009–10 Welsh Football LeagueDivision Two 3 34 11 11 12 57 59 −2 44 12th of 18Relegated3 ?? PR n/a unknown ?? 2010–11 Welsh Football LeagueDivision Three 4 34 14 7 13 59 47 +12 49 9th of 18 ?? QF n/a unknown ?? 2011–12 Welsh Football LeagueDivision Three 4 28 13 5 10 49 51 −2 44 6th of 154 ?? R1 n/a unknown ?? 2012–13 Welsh Football LeagueDivision Three 4 30 23 3 4 98 41 +57 72 1st of 16Promoted ?? 1Q n/a unknown ?? 2013–14 Welsh Football LeagueDivision Two 3 30 20 6 4 86 24 +62 66 1st of 16Promoted ?? R3 n/a unknown ?? 2014–15 Welsh Football LeagueDivision One 2 30 19 6 5 69 32 +37 63 3rd of 16 ?? R4 n/a unknown ?? 2015–16 Welsh Football LeagueDivision One 2 30 19 5 6 63 26 +37 62 1st of 16Promoted ?? QF R1 unknown ??2016–17 Welsh Premier League 1 32 10 6 16 41 41 0 36 6th of 12 264 R4 R2 Adam Roscrow (6)2017–18 Welsh Premier League 1 32 12 7 13 46 41 +5 43 6th of 12 283 R4 F Eliot Evans (12)2018–19 Welsh Premier League 1 32 16 3 13 53 40 +13 51 7th of 12 259 SF W Eliot Evans (8)2019–20 Cymru Premier 1 25 9 8 8 30 29 +1 35 7th of 12 241 SF R3 Eliot Evans (7)2020–21 Cymru Premier 1 32 11 7 14 47 46 +1 40 8th of 12 0 n/a n/a Ollie Hulbert (14)2021–22 Cymru Premier 1 32 10 12 10 35 38 -3 42 7th of 12 211 R4 F Adam Roscrow (10)2022–23 Cymru Premier 1 32 16 4 12 41 49 -8 52 4th of 12 193 R2 SF Sam Jones (12)2023–24 Cymru Premier 1 32 10 9 13 35 63 -28 36Cardiff Metropolitan University were deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player against Bala Town on 3 February 2024. 6th of 12 265 SF SF Eliot Evans (13)2024–25 Cymru Premier 1 32 12 8 12 43 45 -2 44 5th of 12 285 R3 QF Ryan Reynolds and Tom Vincent (10)

Honours

League Welsh Football League Division One Champions: 1975–76, 2015–16 Welsh Football League Division Two Champions: 2013–14 Runner-up: 1974–75, 1996–97 Welsh Football League Division Three Champions: 1995–96, 2012–13

Cups Welsh Amateur Cup Champions: 1968, 1969, 1976 Runner-up: 1967, 1970, 1974 Welsh League Cup Champions: 2019 Runners-up: 2018, 2022

European record

All results (home and away) list Cardiff's goal tally first.

Updated 4 July 2019 Season Competition Round Club Home Away Agg. 2019–20 UEFA Europa League PR Progrès Niederkorn 2–1 0–1 2–2 (a)

Notes PR: Preliminary round

Current squad

Out on loan

References

External links