Meet the opposition | Cardiff City
As Swansea City prepare to host Cardiff City at the Swansea.com Stadium, we take a closer look at the Bluebirds.
What's their story?
Initially founded as Riverside AFC in 1899, the club changed their name to Cardiff City nine years later and joined the Football League in 1920.
The Bluebirds have spent 17 years in the top tier over their 124-year history, with the majority of these season coming during the 1920s and 1950s. Their highest league position came in the 1923-24 season, when they finished runners-up to Huddersfield Town on goal ratio.
They have spent two years in the Premier League during the 2013-14 and 2018-19 seasons, but immediately returned to the Championship at the conclusion of those campaigns.
Cardiff became the first non-English team to lift the FA Cup in 1927 when they defeated Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley. They have reached the FA Cup final on two further occasions, with their most recent appearance being in 2008 when they were beaten by Portsmouth.
The Bluebirds also made the final of the Football League Cup in 2012 but were defeated by Liverpool on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
How's their form?
Good. The Bluebirds have won their last four matches and are undefeated in five. They find themselves in 10th place, five points off the play-off places.
The away form has also been solid, picking up 23 points over 18 matches.
Who's the gaffer?
Erol Bulut is enjoying his first season in English football, after replacing Sabri Lamouchi last summer.
The German-born Turk had a successful playing career, winning titles at Fenerbahçe in Turkey and Olympiacos in Greece, he also represented Turkey at under-21 level.
Bulut started his career at Eintracht Frankfurt, and featured for Fenerbahçe, Trabzonspor, Adanaspor, Panionios, Bursaspor, 1860 Munich, Olympiacos, Metalurh Donetsk, Olympiacos Volos, OFI Crete and Veria over a 20-year period.
Bulut started coaching in 2012, when he became assistant manager at Kartalspor, he continued this role at Yeni Malatyaspor, Elazigspor and Istanbul Basaksehir.
In 2017, Bulut took his first head-coach role when he re-joined Yeni Malatyaspor, he also had spells at Alanyaspor, Fenerbahçe and Gaziantep, before moving to south Wales in 2023.
Who's the captain?
Joe Ralls is the club captain. After an ACL injury ruled then captain Sean Morrison out for the remainder of the 2021-22 season, Ralls was handed the armband and he has remained as club captain since.
The academy graduate had a breakthrough season in 2011-12, scoring a 30-yard half volley after coming off the bench for his league debut against Hull City.
After time on loan to develop, the midfielder returned to become a key figure within the Cardiff side.
He has made more than 300 appearances for them over the past decade and is an industrious, bustling presence in midfield, while possessing quality in the final third and at set-pieces.
Who are the key men?
Defender Perry Ng is the Bluebirds' top goalscorer this season with six league goals to his name, while also picking up three assists, and has the highest WhoScored.com rating in the squad of 7.16.
Ng started his career at Crewe, making over 140 league appearances for the Railwaymen. He won Crewe’s Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year awards during the 2018-19 season and was named in the PFA League Two Team of the Year for the 2019-20 season before joining the Bluebirds in 2021.
So far, the versatile defender has made over 130 league appearances for Cardiff and grown into an important figure. He was named Cardiff’s Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season.
Ng recently signed a new three-year contract, keeping him at the club until 2026.
Summer signing Dimitrios Goutas has been an ever-present at the back for the Bluebirds this season, playing the most minutes out of any member of the squad.
The Greek defender started his career at Xanthi where he moved up through the academy and made over 70 league appearances for the club, before moving to Olympiacos.
Goutas never made a senior appearance for the Greek side over four years with the club, and had several loan spells with the likes of Xanthi, KV Kortrijk, St Truiden and Lech Poznan.
The defender then signed for Atromitos where he went on to make over 60 league appearances before moving to Turkey in 2021.
Goutas scored a brace on his Super Lig debut scoring in Silvasspor’s 2-2 draw at home to Goztepe. He was also part of the squad that won the Turkish Cup in the 2021-22 season.
The Greek defender then moved to south Wales in the summer of 2023; he has scored four goals for the Bluebirds in 36 appearances.
Goutas also has three Greece caps to his name at international level.
English forward Karlan Grant has been one of the Bluebirds biggest attacking threats in recent weeks, finding the net in their win against Stoke City.
Grant spent his youth career at Charlton Athletic, where he signed his first professional contract on his way to making 80 league appearances and scoring 16 goals over five years with the Addicks.
The striker also had two loan spells during his time at The Valley, featuring for Cambridge United and Crawley Town, before gaining a move to then-Premier League side Huddersfield Town in January 2019.
Grant went on to join West Bromwich Albion in a deal worth around £15 million in 2020. He has scored 22 league goals for the Baggies in over 95 appearances, before his loan move to south Wales last summer.