Wales' World Cup Qualifier against Austria will go ahead on March 24
Wales’ World Cup play-off against Austria will go ahead on March 24, Fifa has confirmed.
The match was in doubt after Fifa confirmed on Thursday, March 3, that Ukraine had requested a postponement of their play-off semi-final against Scotland on the same day.
The winners of both matches will play each other in a play-off final for a place in World Cup in Qatar in November and December.
On Tuesday, Fifa confirmed the Scotland versus Ukraine match, due to take place in Glasgow, has been postponed and rescheduled for June.
However, Fifa also confirmed that the Wales versus Austria match will not be delayed, as previously considered.
In a statement, the sport’s governing body said: “Following consultation with UEFA and the four participating member associations in Path A of the European qualifying play-offs, it was unanimously agreed in the spirit of solidarity to accept this request.”
“It was further agreed that the match between Wales and Austria will remain as scheduled on 24 March 2022, owing to the need to limit the disruption to the competitive matches already scheduled for the June window in what is an already congested calendar.
“Alternative fixtures for affected teams in the March window are being explored by the relevant parties.
“Similarly, the details of the rescheduled fixtures will be announced in due course and the international match calendar window of June will be adapted as necessary for the teams concerned once these details have been finalised.”
Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney simply tweeted: “See you at CCS v Austria on 24th March”, adding the word “Solidarity” with a Ukrainian flag emoji.
It means if Wales do win their semi-final against Austria, they will have to wait until June to play the final.
Elsewhere, Poland have been given a bye to the final as their semi-final opponents Russia having been banned from international competition.
The Russian Football Union’s appeal against the ban on its national teams and clubs from international competitions has reached the Court of Arbitration for Sport.