LLANTWIT Major F.C are giving away a free football shirt to anyone who can qualify for the Champions League, whilst using the team in the popular video game Football Manager 22.
The game replicates real life football tournaments, and to qualify for the Champions League, a Welsh team would have to win the Cymru Premier division.
This would ensure qualification to the early play-off rounds before the Champions League group-stage.
In order to complete the challenge, a player must get past the play-off rounds and into the group-stage.
The challenge has already been completed by one Twitter user called Laurence, with the club announcing they will award anyone else who completes the challenge with a shirt before 14th January.
Another Twitter user was also given a shirt after Tweeting proof of winning the Champions League with Llantwit Major FC in last year’s edition of the game.
“Someone who has thousands of followers and is a well-known content creator started following us and made a tweet a few weeks later talking about our social media.” Said board member Ben Dudley.
“As a small club, we have to do things differently to get noticed”
However, this doesn’t tell the full story of Llantwit Major F.C.
The team based in South Glamorgan currently play in the JD Cymru South, the 2nd division of Welsh football, where they currently sit in 2nd place.
They are only two points behind the leaders, Jonathan Jones’ Pontypridd Town.
Under manager Karl Lewis, who is still in charge after five years at the club, they rose from the amateur ranks, to win the Division three title in 16/17, and then the Welsh Football League Division Two title in the 17/18 season.
They had gone from lower leagues to winning the third tier of Welsh football and back-to-back promotions with a strong core of local players.
“We’ve worked to a policy of getting players who are already familiar with each other.”
“A lot of the squad have been friends their whole lives and are all from the local area.
“You can see in the clubhouse and on the field, people don’t just want to win for themselves, they want to win for their mates.”
After the success, some players have moved on to represent Welsh Premier sides.
Striker Adam Roscrow moved to Wimbledon AFC in the English League One and club legend, Sam Snaith, also came close to a big move to Newport County before the Covid 19 pandemic struck.
Other players have stayed, with goalkeeper Jack Lansdowne currently playing his 14th season at the club.
The team known as “the Windmill Army” currently play at the Prince Moomin’s Palace, after a girlfriend of one of the players won a raffle costing £20 to rename the stadium.
They were anticipating a club record attendance against Undy Athletic on 27th December, with hundreds of school pupils were invited until the game was postponed due to Covid restrictions.
Hawkinsport 