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Wales are to closely monitor the shock news Russia could have Euro 2020 matches taken away from them.

In a dramatic twist, they are also prepared to offer up Cardiff's Principality Stadium as an alternative venue should UEFA go ahead with a request from the World Anti-Doping Agency to stop Euro games being held in St Petersburg.

Russia are one of 12 host nations for the tournament, with Ryan Giggs' Wales having a 50-50 chance of playing two of their pool matches in St Petersburg in a Group B containing Russia, fellow hosts Denmark and top seeds Belgium.

The alternative for Wales would be Group A, where they would meet another of the hosts Italy in Rome, as well as have matches in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku.

But Russia's staging of games has come under threat after a WADA committee recommended the country be banned from hosting sports events for four years.

That is one of a raft of tough measures WADA's compliance review committee have put forward after declaring the Russian Anti-Doping Agency were non-compliant over inconsistencies in anti-doping data.

Their recommendations will go before WADA's executive committee for ratification on December 9.

And while that date is nine days after this Saturday's draw for the Euro finals, WADA could put pressure on UEFA to take Euro 2020 away from the Russians.

Their report reads: "Where the right to host a major event in the four-year period has already been awarded to Russia, the signatory must withdraw that right and re-assign the event to another country, unless it is legally or practically impossible to do so."

On the back of the overnight news, there is a school of thought in Welsh football that this probably applies in the main to athletics.

However, taken literally the signatory in the football case would be UEFA, who are staging the tournament in 12 host cities across the continent to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Championships.

WADA's call for the authorities to "re-assign the event to another country" would also put Wales in pole position, should UEFA embark down that route as well.

(Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency)

Football Association of Wales bosses are making it clear this is no more than a monitoring exercise at the moment. Deep down they expect the power of Russia to prevail and for games to go ahead as planned in St Petersburg.

However, if UEFA do come down hard on Russia and follow WADA's demands to the letter, they will need to find an alternative venue for the three group games and quarter-final scheduled for St Petersburg.

Wales feel in those circumstances they would have a compelling case to stand in and would be ready to make those overtures to UEFA.

The FAW were desperately unlucky to miss out as the next best country in their original bid to host the Euros, which was described as 'technically excellent'.

Since then, they brilliantly staged the Champions League final, earning wide plaudits in UEFA's corridors of power and also from the fans and the two competing teams Real Madrid and Juventus.

You can read about the lovely gestures Real Madrid and Juventus sent the FAW here

That success saw Wales make an 11th hour bid to stage Euro games when Belgium were forced to pull out as another joint host because their new EuroStadion wouldn't be ready in time.

Disappointingly, UEFA decided instead to give the games scheduled for Brussels to Wembley, meaning England have three group matches, as well as a last 16 tie, the two semi-finals and the final.

Having been stung twice, the FAW are loathe to jump in again and will instead see how the new Russia developments pan out in the coming days. But they are ready, willing and able to suggest the Principality Stadium as a replacement if St Petersburg is indeed ruled out.

There is only one summer event currently scheduled at the 74,000-seater venue which could clash, a gig by German rock band Rammstein on June 14.

The Group B fixtures scheduled for St Petersburg are on June 12, 17 and 22, with a July 3 quarter-final also pencilled in.

When Wales were previously rejected, with the Brussels games going to Wembley, the FAW said at the time: "The Football Association of Wales and its stakeholders are extremely disappointed with the news that its bid to secure four UEFA EURO 2020 matches at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff has been unsuccessful.

"Over the past four years, Wales has successfully staged three UEFA events – firstly, the UEFA Super Cup Final in 2014, followed by the UEFA Men’s and Women’s Champions League Finals in June this year.

"The concept of taking EURO 2020 to 13 different countries was devised to allow smaller countries, like Wales, to have a unique opportunity of being involved in staging a major tournament. Wales has never staged a EURO or World Cup Final and this was its one and only chance of doing so.

"The FAW complied with all of the bid requirements and has written to UEFA to request feedback on the decision so that it can understand the reasons behind the vote for future reference."

If Wales were suddenly and most unexpectedly to get a fresh chance for Euro games, it would represent brilliant news for the fans who at the moment will have to travel to either Baku or St Petersburg to roar on Giggs' team.

It would also, of course, come as a significant boost to Giggs' players as they too would be able to play on home soil.

As things stand, there would be a lot of travel between either Copenhagen and St Petersburg, or Rome and Baku, which would put Wales and their supporters at a disadvantage.

The FAW are making it clear it is only a monitoring exercise at the moment and they do expect Euro 2020 games to go ahead in Russia, but they will be ready on standby just in case.

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