Wales football team news

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Wales football news - March 2003.


Player rule. The Serbia & Montenegro game, which has been rescheduled for the August 20th, will be played on a designated international friendly date, but manager Mark Hughes wants it changed to a full competitive date. Hughes would then be able to enforce FIFA's 4-day player rule, which prevents players from playing for their clubs before an international. This rule was enforced last November before the game in Baku against Azerbaijan, but because that fixture fell on a friendly date the 2-day player rule was put in place. UEFA will lobby FIFA on a Wales' behalf. "We will discuss with FIFA turning this into a full international match day so that the two associations will have full claim on their players being available." - UEFA director of communications Mike Lee. Thursday, March 27th 2003.

Major sponsorship. The Welsh Football Association is set to announce a major sponsorship deal, it will be made on Monday 24th March prior to the game against Azerbaijan. Present at the announcement will be FAW vice president, together with Mark Hughes, the Secretary General and members of the company concerned. The announcement will be made at the Vale Hotel, near Cardiff. Further details will be made available on Monday. Tuesday, March 18th 2003.

Under strength. With the next stage of the Euro 2004 qualifiers fast approaching, there is the distinct possibility that the team that will start against Azerbaijan will not be at full strength. With injuries and the lack of first team action a major concern for manager Mark Hughes, he will surely find it difficult to field his strongest side on March 29th. Added to this is the one match ban threat hanging over six players within the squad, including Pembridge, Savage and Bellamy. Hughes names the squad next Monday. Thursday, March 6th 2003.