The brilliant reason Wales deliberately ruin their team photo before every single match

For over a decade, the Wales national team have posed for their pre-match squad photo with a lop-sided line-up. But why?

It once again became a talking point ahead of their Nations League clash against Portugal, when Craig Bellamy's side lined up in front of the Estadio Jose Alvalade crowd in a deliberately unconventional formation.

There was a significant space between captain Ben Davies and Jordan James, while David Brooks re-enacted the classic Ashley Cole pose, leaving a huge gap between himself and Neco Williams, who was crouched next to Joe Allen.

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The story behind Wales' chaotic team photo

It was a happy accident. Back in 2016, Joe Ledley explained that the players were not very good at organising themselves for team pictures, so rather than fixing it, they decided to embrace the chaos.

Soon, Wales enjoyed a good run of form, with that Euro 2016 campaign, where they reached the semi-finals under the management of Chris Coleman, being a standout moment.

As a result, the unusual team photo tradition became something of a good-luck ritual in camp. “At first we didn’t look into it but then gradually a few photos got together and it was awful," Ledley said.

"So we just thought we may as well keep it the same. We don’t practise. We just talk within the group and we decide what we’re going to do. We will probably continue it - it’s been lucky for us, so I don’t think we will have a proper photo.”

In the past, Wales have employed a three at the back and eight up front formation, as seen in the picture below, which was taken ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Georgia in October 2016.

Wales line up ahead of their clash against Georgia. Image credit: Getty

Wales fall to defeat in Nations League opener against Portugal

An injury-hit Wales suffered a 1-0 defeat to defending champions Portugal on Thursday night, with Joao Felix's deflected strike handing Jorge Jesus' side all three points in Lisbon.

Craig Bellamy's side were close to levelling the scores through Brennan Johnson, who went close in the final stages, but they were dominated in large spells.

After the full-time whistle, Bellamy described the game as "difficult", adding: "We had to suffer a lot. I think that's the longest we've been in a game without the ball. We could have done more with the ball but I'm beyond proud as well.

"We have a lot of players who weren't here. That's OK, we can handle it."

"A lot of players don't play week-in, week-out," he added. "So for them to use the energy they were able to, we've got to have a big heart to be able to do that. They've always shown that and they showed that again."

Wales will be hoping to bounce back with a win when they face Denmark on Sunday (September 27).