Welsh football :- news in brief.

Best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer at a resolution of 800x600 and 16-bit colour.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Baku tickets	U-19 squad
Forms will be going out on Wednesday to confirm tickets for Baku. The FAW has requested the best section of the Stadium for supporters, usual collection procedures at the team complex for the collection of match tickets.	The U-19 squad for the forthcoming matches against Hungary, N. Ireland and Andorra is announced tomorrow.

October 29th 2002.








Italy allocation	Italy video
The FAW will be requesting a 10% ticket allocation for next year's game in Italy.	Video set to be launched late next week. Welsh language available around the same time. The production company is actively pursuing the DVD.

October 25th 2002.

Friendly news	Azer venue
At the moment we look unlikely to be playing Northern Ireland in a friendly. Wales would prefer an away match. A training camp looks the most likely.	The U21s will play their match at Shafa Stadium in Baku. The venue for the full squad is Tofig Bakhramov National Stadium.

Azer news	No venue yet
Kick-off time in Baku has yet to be confirmed, neither has ticket price at the moment. Information will go out next week to all supporters on the FAW "away" database regarding travel etc.	Both Italian and Yugoslavia venues have yet to be confirmed, the Italian FA has also advised the FAW that they won't make a decision until 60 days prior to the match.

October 18th-22nd 2002.

U-21 on TV	U-21 entry
The U-21 game against Italy will be shown live on BBC 2W starting between 7.30-7.45pm.	Entry to the U-21 game is as follows: Ł2 for adults - Ł1 for children or senior citizens. Pay at the gate.

October 10th 2002.

Hughes squad and trip	Azerbaijan venue
Mark Hughes will announce the squad for Italy game next Monday. He will then travel to Baku for on an inspection trip before the Azerbaijan game in November.	The National Stadium in Baku is the venue for the Wales game in November against Azerbaijan. Kick-off will be 19:00 hour's local time (1500 GMT) this tbc. The U-21 will play at the Shafa Stadium on November 19th.

U-21 on TV
It looks like there is a possibility that the BBC will be showing the U-21 game against Italy "Live" or at worse highlights. This depends on Italian Television coverage. more to follow

September 26th 2002.

Hughes meeting	Terfel sings
Mark Hughes was in Llandrindod Wells today for an FAW meeting to discuss the up and coming Italy and Azerbaijan matches with his backroom staff.	We can confirm that Bryn Terfel will definitely be singing the national anthem before the Italy home game next month. He will also be present at the U-21 match previous evening.

Ticket news
The FAW are awaiting news from Italy as to their ticket allocation. An FAW spokesman said "If they do not wish to take up full allocation then may have tickets later to allocate to Welsh supporters." This is a maybe.

September 11-14th 2002.

Hughes extension	Robinson backing
Mark Hughes is in discussion with the FAW regarding extending his current contract for a further two years. "The negotiations are progressing, it's all very friendly at the moment." said Hughes	John Robinson says he believes Wales will qualify for the finals of Euro 2004. "I can see no reason why they cannot qualify for Euro 2004." said Robinson

Tickets sold	U-21 replacement
All 1,550 tickets allocated for Helsinki game have been sold.	Mark Jones of Wrexham replaces Matthew Rees of Millwall in U-21 squad for next week's training camp.

August 14th 2002.

Robinson retirement	New Kit
Midfielder John Robinson has announced his retirement from international football. Robinson made his debut in 1995 against Albania and won 30 caps, scoring three goals. One of his most memorable moments in a Wales shirt when he scored in the 3-2 win over Belarus back in 1998.	The new Wales kit will be launched on 12th October just four days before the Italy home game.

August 9-13th 2002.

Referee	Helsinki tickets
The referee for the Croatia game will be either from Germany or Hungary, as for the Euro 2004 qualifier against Finland the official is from Austria	The FAW have finalised their ticket allocation with the Finnish FA. A total of 1,500 tickets have been allocated, almost all have sold out. There will be no sales of tickets in Helsinki from the Association.

U-19 camp	Squad date
A U-19 training Camp will be confirmed during the week. Venue to be Bangor at end of August.	Mark Hughes will name the squad around the 8th August for Croatia match only.

July 28th-August 4th 2002.

U-21 camp	U-19 star
There will be another U-21 training camp prior to September's game against Finland. This will be based in Llanelli from 17th August and will last for 3 days.	Arron Davies is with the Southampton first-team squad in Scotland and has pulled out of the U-19 squad for Milk Cup.

Ruling
There is a 4-day ruling that can ban a player from playing for his clubs before a match. Whether this applies to Friendly matches is unclear.

July 19th 2002.

Vaughan	Player transfer
Plenty of queries regarding David Vaughan. He is actually to old for the current U-19's. The current U-19 side is the 1984 squad preparing for this month's Milk Cup tournament. This squad will be one taking part in the UEFA mini-tournament again in Northern Ireland during November. Expect Vaughan to be included in U21 squad for Finland.	Carl Robinson is expected to join Portsmouth shortly. Paul Evans looks set to join Watford, with a move from Brentford very much on the cards. Update: Paul is expected to be a Bradford City player shortly.

U-19	Friendly
Manager Mark Hughes is expected to travel to Coleraine to watch the Under-19 team play Paraguay on 22nd July.	As for the friendly, the FAW are still talking to both Croatia and Estonia.

July 14-17th 2002.

FAW news	U-21's
The FAW have officially approached a few countries regarding an away friendly match in August. Mark Hughes will be in Cardiff tomorrow to discuss Finland arrangements and plans for August.	There are plans for the U-21's to have a training camp in August.

U-19's	Finland tickets
Young Ipswich Town goalkeeper Lewis Price has confirmed his eligibility to play for Wales. Andrew Crofts from Gillingham has been called in to the Milk Cup squad to replace Gavin Hurren.	Ticket sales for Finland game have increased to over 700, deadline for these tickets is 2 weeks.

July 11th 2002.

Vaughan	Sparky talks
The latest news regarding David Vaughan must be a boost to the Welsh camp as it appears he has decided to choose Wales over England. His club Crewe has called a press conference for tomorrow at 12pm where an announcement on Vaughan's international future will be made. - Update 11.07.02 - as we said Vaughan has pledged his future to Wales.	Mark Hughes is to hold talks with FAW officials before the end of the week where it is likely that he will at last become the full time manager of Wales. "I have had a great career and played with some of the best players in the world. The decision to even think of retiring has not come easily." - Mark Hughes.

Friendly
Rumours are circulating about a possible friendly match in August. Names in the frame at the moment are Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta and Northern Ireland. Update 11.07.02 - Slovenia play Italy in August.

July 10-11th 2002.

Ticket rush	Italy preparation
The FAW have confirmed that they have until the July 26th to confirm final requirements for the game under the Group 9 protocol. The Finish FA are certain that the match will be sold out and therefore supporters travelling without tickets may struggle to purchase any in Helsinki. So the message is "Buy now!"	For the Italy game on Wednesday October 16th the squad will have over a week's preparation. During that period that squad will move up from their Cardiff base with will have three days in North Wales. Nothing is finalised yet but the hope is to have some open training sessions. Mark Hughes will be in Italy on the Saturday to watch the Yugoslavia game.

Group 9 friendly	Ticket info
Azerbaijan are in action today against Estonia. Our November opponents in Baku play Latvia on Saturday evening at 7pm.	Finland tickets can be purchased by contacting the FAW at info@faw.org.uk

July 3rd 2002.

Great Support	Finland tickets
Officially there are now just over 400 tickets sold for Finland game in September. This is expected to rise to over 1,000 during the summer months. Tickets will be sent out to fans during July.	Tickets for the game in Helsinki available from the FAW - cost Ł14.

Players released
Both Mark Thomas a Mathew Parry have been released by Liverpool.

June 23rd-30th 2002.

Excellent support
We can confirm that over 1,700 ticket application forms have so far been sent out from the FAW office for the match against Finland in Helsinki. However out of these only around 300 tickets have been sold.

June 12th 2002.

Sparky away	Season ticket
Both Mark Hughes and Eddie Niedzwiecki were in Prague on Saturday to watch Italy play the Czech Republic (score 1-0). Sparky travels to Helsinki tomorrow for the Finland v Latvia game.	Announcements on the "Home Season Ticket" idea for the Euro 2004 games is expected sometime during June, also under review is the "Singing Area".

FAW meeting	Finland away
The FAW International Committee meet on Friday in Rhayader.	A traveling support of over 1,000 fans is expected in Helsinki.

May 21st 2002.

New kit
A new kit (1st and 2nd strip) will be launched in time for the Finland match in September.

May 17th 2002.

Robinson interest	U-21 venue
A host of clubs are interested in signing Carl Robinson Preston, Birmingham City, Nottingham Forest, Watford and Crystal Palace have all declared an interest.	Confirmation again: The venue for the U-21 game in Finland is FC Haka's Stadium in Valkeakoski. Kick off to be confirmed.

Luke mascot
Wales will have a mascot for the game next Tuesday, he is eleven year old Luke James, son of the late Wales International Robbie James. Luke is football mad and will be spending Sunday with the squad.

May 10th 2002.

Robinson transfer	German squad
Carl Robinson has left his club Wolves on a free transfer.	Germany have named their squad for their match against on Kuwait on Thursday. This will be the basis of the squad to face Wales next Tuesday.

May 7th 2002.

Bars open	Squad announced
Bars will be open within the Millennium Stadium prior to the Germany match for the first time; the bars will close at 7.30pm. This is the first time that permission has been granted for alcohol sales.	The squad for the match with Germany will be announced by Mark Hughes on Wednesday 1st May at 4pm.

April 30th 2002.

Sparky link	Finland away
According to reports this morning Mark Hughes is being linked with the vacant job at Preston. As of this morning Preston do not have a shortlist as yet, and Mark is one of a dozen or so names being circulated in the Lancashire press. update (29.04) Craig Brown was named Preston boss	A travelling support of over 1,000 fans is expected to make the trip to Helsinki in September. The FAW have confirmed that over 900 application forms for tickets has gone out during the week. The squad should therefore of one of largest away following in recent years.

April 26th 2002.

Germany tickets	U-19 squad
Germany ticket sales currently stand at around 15,000 sold.	During the coming week coach Neville Southall will announce the under-19 squad for the training camp and matches in May.

U-21 venue
The venue for Finland game on the 6th Sept. has been confirmed as FC Haka in Valkeakoski, no kick-off time as yet.

April 22nd-23rd 2002.

Coleman return
Chris Coleman has made a successful return to action. He completed 45 minutes for his club Fulham in a reserve game against Charlton. "It was great to get back on the pitch, the plan was always to play just the first half and I was delighted with the way it went." said Chris.

March 28th 2002.

Spying mission!	Italy away
Manager Mark Hughes was in La Manga, Spain today watching Finland play a friendly international against South Korea. The game ended in a 2-0 defeat for our Group 9 opponents, two late goals sinking the Scandinavians. Mark will bring home a video of the game courtesy of the Finnish FA.	As yet there is no confirmation of the venue for the match in Italy. Going on past experiences sources expect the venue not be announced until June 2003.

March 20th 2002.

U-21 camp	Injury doubts
The Under-21's will meet up in a training camp scheduled for 14-17th April at Vale of Glamorgan Hotel.	Injuries to three key players ahead of the Czech Republic friendly. There are doubts over Mark Pembridge (calf), Gary Speed (hamstring) and Craig Bellamy (knee).

March 8th 2002.

New kit	FAW Meeting
A New third kit coloured yellow & blue will be launched on Friday, 15th March. more to follow	The FAW international committee meets at Rhayader on Thursday. Manager Mark Hughes will be attending.

March 6th 2002.

Bowen future	Savage rumour
Assistant coach Mark Bowen might have to consider his future before Euro 2004. Bowen currently post is first-team coach at Birmingham City, and at the moment is combining his club role with his Welsh job. "The European Championships might cause more problems with the double-headers. I have to remember that Birmingham pay my wages." said Bowen.	Reports suggest that Robbie Savage could be on his way out Leicester City. Apparently he will be placed on the transfer list shortly.

March 1st 2002.

Fixtures meeting	Ticket news
Euro 2004 Group 9 fixtures meeting 11th March 2002: 9.30am - Start 2.00pm - Scheduled Press Conference.	More news regarding ticket information: News on discounted ticket prices will follow the meeting on the 11th March.

February 22nd 2002.

Team and fixture news	Coleman return
There are no other scheduled matches apart from the Czech Republic and Germany before Euro 2004. Plans for a Far East tour have been shelved. The FAW may host the Euro 2004 fixture meeting in March.	Chris Coleman could return to action as early as April. He only needs one more operation, which he hopes will be the last before he can resume training. "If everything goes well, I'm thinking about a reserve game in April" said Coleman.

February 14-15th 2002.

Ticket sales	Eire Ref
More than 45,000 tickets have so far been as of mid afternoon on Friday. FAW secretary David Collins last night said, "We are still very confident of having a sell-out crowd." Sales have now reached around 60,000. (11.02.02) Sales have now reached 62,000. 2pm - (13.02.02) Click here for ticket details.	Paul McKeon from the Republic of Ireland will take charge against Argentina on Wednesday Match report: Wales v Argentina.

February 8-11th 2002.

Ticket sales	Euro fixtures
Large queues have been reported at all outlets in Cardiff today, Telephone lines have also been constantly engaged. Tickets can now be bought online click onto www.cardiffrugbytickets.com	Italy meeting has been delayed until all the nations in Group 9 agree on a date. It will be after 13th February round of friendly international matches.

February 6th 2002.

Czech game	Kit launch
Wales' friendly against the Czech Rep on the 27th March will kick-off at 7.15pm.	A new Kappa kit will be launched from September 2002 ready in time for the Euro 2004 campaign.

January 21-23rd 2002.

U-19 match	Coleman show
The Wales U-19 squad will hopefully get-together at the end of the season for a match against Norway, the match will hopefully showcase some of the players who will come through to next year's Under-21 side.	S4C digital this evening 22:35 - Y Clwb - The Club - Channel 104 here in Wales With a year since the accident Malcolm Allen speaks with Chris Coleman. Most of the programme is rugby orientated, I'm told the piece is in the final part of the show.

January 14th 2002.

Ticket info	Porto bound
The FAW will announce sometime over the next week or so ticket information for the forthcoming friendly internationals.	Wales will be represented at the Euro 2004 draw in Portugal by manager Mark Hughes, FAW President Des Shanklin and secretary David Collins. The draw takes place on the 25th of January. Click here for Euro 2004 info.

January 4th 2002.

Friendly news
The FAW have confirmed that Wales will play Germany in a friendly international at Millennium Stadium on Tuesday 14th May. Secretary General David Collins also confirmed that the Czech Republic would play a friendly in Cardiff on 27 March. Dates in February and April have also been scheduled for matches.

December 21st 2001.

Secretary blast	Bowen job
FAW secretary general David Collins has blasted reports that the game against Belarus last October was fixed. "This is based on a report made in a newspaper in Russia and it's best that it stays that way." said Collins.	Assistant coach Mark Bowen has been appointed first-team coach at Birmingham City. Mark Hughes has told him that his job with the national team is safe.

December 13th 2001.

Belarus bribe	New Kit
Belarus goalkeeper Gennadi Tumilovich has claimed that his teammates accepted bribes to lose the game against Wales last October. He has told a Russian sport newspaper that "Some of our players (Belarus) were offered certain gifts and were, at best, going through the motions." The FAW have said it's a matter for the Belarus FA.	Kit makers Kappa is currently looking to design a new 3rd kit for friendly matches in 2002. Colours will include "Cambridge" Blue, which is the colour of the Dragon's talons on the FAW badge. Primary colour of the new kit will be yellow though.

December 11th 2001.

Southall signs
Former keeper and record caps holder Neville Southall has signed for Shrewsbury Town on a non-contract basis.

December 6th 2001.

FAW meeting	U-17's in action
The FAW international committee meets tomorrow to discuss future fixtures. More details when available.	Wales will play Germany in a friendly international next February. Click here for more info.

November 7th 2001.

Euro 2004	Aizlewood job
The draw for Euro 2004 will be made on 25 January 2002. Click here for more info.	Former Welsh International Mark Aizlewood is the new FAW Trust technical director. His appointment puts him in charge of developing youth football throughout Wales, he will also be responsible for player and coaching development.

November 1st 2001.

Rankings	Yorath in charge
Wales have moved up 4 places in latest FIFA World rankings.	Former Wales boss Terry Yorath has been appointed caretaker-manager at Sheffield Wednesday after the resignation of Peter Shreeves.

October 17th 2001.

Charles honour	Tosh step down
Welsh football legend John Charles was presented with his CBE in an investiture ceremony conducted by the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.	Former Wales boss John Toshack is to step down as coach of Real Sociedad. Toshack is said to be remaining with the club in the role of general manager.

October 16th 2001.

Saunders post
Dean Saunders looks set to become the new U-21 manager. It has been reported that Saunders is the man Mark Hughes wants to replace current boss Jimmy Shoulder. Hughes will meet the FAW match and competition's committee next month, and it is believed Saunders name will be put forward to them.

October 5th 2001.

Coyne Happy	BBC special
Danny Coyne is happy to be back in the Wales squad. It is five years since he last played for Wales. He said: "I'm delighted to be back in after so long. Five years is a long time to wait." BBC stats BBC Online have put together some stats for the game on Saturday. click here for more	A Special BBC programme on Saturday night will be looking back on the whole of Wales's World Cup qualifying campaign. "What Mark?" will have as have highlights of Wales v. Belarus from the afternoon, including interviews with Mark Hughes and the players plus analysis and views from studio guests Mark Aizlewood, Kevin Ratcliffe and Dai Davies. The programme is presented by Oliver Hides. BBC One Wales 11.10pm - 12.00pm.

October 4th 2001.

Missing pair	Ticket Sales
Belarus will miss the influential pair of Khatskevich and Belkevich for the World Cup qualifier on Saturday, Both have refused to play due to comments made by their coach Eduard Malofeyev's after his side's 2-0 home defeat to Ukraine on September 1st.	Around 5,000 tickets have been sold for the Belarus game on Saturday. The FAW expected a crowd of around 10,000 to 15,000 for the game.

October 1st 2001.