Doubts over Wales’ clash with Austria later this month and the cancellation of the friendly against the United States have thrown Wales’ Euro 2020 preparations into turmoil.
Wales are due to meet Austria at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium on Friday, 27 March, but the match is now in serious doubt following the cancellation of the friendly with the United States at Cardiff City Stadium, which had been scheduled to take place three days later on Monday, 30 March.
The United States have cancelled all their men’s and women’s matches scheduled in March and April due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The men were also scheduled to play the Netherlands on 26 March, while the US women’s team had two home friendlies scheduled against Australia on 10 April and Brazil on 14 April.
The USSF statement attributes the cancellations to “growing concern over slowing the spread of Covid-19 and with the government announcing it will ban entry to foreign nationals travelling from Europe for the next 30 days”.
But the FAW have confirmed that at the moment the friendly against Austria remains on.
“At the present time, the match between Wales v Austria at the Liberty Stadium on March 27, 2020, is still taking place, but we are monitoring the situation closely with Uefa, the Welsh and UK governments and related agencies,” said FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford.
Ford said it was disappointing to see any postponement or cancellation of matches but full refunds would be issued to fans. “We understand that the health and safety of all fans, players and stakeholders are paramount,” Ford said.
