Welsh Premier League Cynghrair Bel Droid Cymru 2017 - 2018
Rhyl and Airbus UK were relegated to the Cymru Aliance and are replaced by Prestatyn Town and Barry Town United, both of which were granted their FAW domestic licences for the new season in April. For Barry's supporters a return to the top flight marks the culmination of a remarkable revival for the club that once dominated Welsh football but who faced extinction only a few years ago.
JD Sports are the competition's new headline sponsor under a three-year deal announced by the FAW in August.
The WPL logo is the property of the Welsh Premier League. Crests are the property of the respective clubs.
The Black & Greens have retained their first choice kit and now have an equally striking change strip in the same template. It seems match officials decided neither sets would be suitable for the evening match at Cefn Druids so a set of green shirts with white trimmings were hastily assembled. These appear to have been made by Canterbury and lacked numbers or players' names on the back.
Bala won the Welsh Cup last season, beating TNS and ending their unbroken run of four wins. Bala thus qualified for the Europa League for the fourth time in five seasons but they have yet to trouble the competition beyond the first qualifying round. A 5-1 defeat on aggregate against FC Vaduz of Leichtenstein illustrates just how far the WPL has to go to compete. As usual Bala have replaced their first choice strip (they change kits on a two-season cycle) and wore a different design in their two European matches.
The Citizens met Lyngby BK in the Europa Cup but lost 3-1 on aggregate having qualified by winning the play-offs last season. Their new kits are by Kappa and are as usual all-blue and all-red.
In the 1990s Barry Town dominated Welsh football and regularly hosted European games but the pressure of financing a fully professional team proved too much. After slipping into administration the club was bought by Stuart Lovering in December 2003. A dispute with the council over rent led him to move the first team to Treforest as they dropped down the pyramid. In May 2013 Lovering withdrew the club from the Welsh Football League against the wishes of the players, staff and Supporters' Committee, who were running the club. The FAW Council confirmed a month later that Barry would be excluded from the Welsh pyramid: a second meeting was convened to review new evidence but 15 councillors voted against hearing any arguments and the meeting closed after just 5 minutes. Eventually the High Court in Cardiff found that the FAW had acted unlawfully and the club, now run entirely by supporters and titled Barry Town United, was readmitted to Division Three of the Welsh Football League. Three successive promotions have taken Barry back to the top tier where they belong.
Cardiff Met reached the Europa League play-off final last May, which is not bad considering this was their first ever season in the top tier. Their latest first strip combines their maroon, navy and gold colours to good effect. The bright blue alternative is from the creative section of Errea's catalogue.
Carmarthen generally don't need a change kit but they will this season for the trip to Barry. The first kit is held over from last season and complemented by a very pleasant alternative.
A comfortable mid-table finish was a reasonable first season back in the top tier for Wales' oldest club. They have opted to wear Errea this season with a first choice shirt in traditional stripes with a nice yoke. The blue change kit is smart enough but I'm a bit puzzled by the decision to not match up the trim on the shirt with that on the shorts.
The Nomads finished as runners-up last term and beat HJK Helsinki in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier. Sadly they could not preserve their lead and went down 3-0 in Finland. Their strips are unchanged apart from new socks. 
A modest ninth place was all the Seasiders could manage last season, a long way off the place in Europe they had won in their inaugural season. MBi Consulting no longer sponsor the club and their initials have been dropped from the name and from that of their ground. The first kit is unchanged aside from new sponsors while the change strip is all gold, the first time the team has adopted this colour. By happy coincidence, it's also the corporate colour of their new away shirt sponsor. Well I never.
TNS won their sixth championship in a row at a canter. Their campaign in the Champions League was ended in the second qualifying round by HNK Rijeka who hammered the Oswestry side 7-1 on aggregate. They have two new strips for 2017-18.
The WPL splits after 22 games and Newtown competed in the relegation section. A quirk of this structure is that teams finishing seventh can accumulate more points than the one finishing in sixth. This is exactly what happened to Newtown who finished with 45 points, nine more than Cardiff Met in sixth. Furthermore they competed in the Europa League play-offs because Bala qualified for the Europa Cup by virtue of their league position and winning the Welsh Cup so an extra team was needed to make up the numbers.
Prestatyn lost their place in the WPL in 2015 but have now returned as champions of the Cymru Alliance. They wear Errea strip and have chosen two typically interesting designs from their range. Their shirts are sponsored by a company that sells books and DVDs devoted to classic buses and railway engines, which I find curiously comforting.