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Football fans across Wales will be able to follow the national team’s quest to reach the World Cup, following a deal to show matches on free-to-air television.

Since 2004, live coverage of Wales’ competitive internationals has only aired on Sky Sports, meaning those without access to the pay channel have been unable to witness the meteoric rise of Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen in their country’s colours.

But this is set to change after S4C announced a deal with Sky, meaning this month’s crunch clash against Ireland will be broadcast free of charge on the Welsh-language channel, along with all remaining World Cup qualifying fixtures.

Sue Butler, S4C’s sports commissioner, said: “We are delighted to offer the only live free-to-air coverage of Wales’ 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

“Chris Coleman’s team captivated us at Euro 2016 and it’s great to be back with the Wales team following all the action and drama live on S4C.”

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All the national team’s Euro 2016 matches were shown on S4C, with English language coverage shared between the BBC and ITV.

This prompted unprecedented scenes, with fan zones - both official and unofficial - being set up as Chris Coleman’s men reached the semi-finals.

Under the new deal, the Welsh-language coverage will be produced by Caernarfon-based Rondo Media, with Sky Sports continuing to show Wales’ matches in English.

Rondo is already responsible for putting together the channel’s football portfolio, which includes international highlights and live matches from the Welsh Premier League and Welsh Cup.

Dylan Ebenezer will anchor the coverage, with former Ysgol Maes Garmon pupil Nic Parry and Malcolm Allen of Deiniolen in the commentary box.

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Former internationals Owain Tudur Jones, who was born in Bangor , and Dai Davies, who lives in Llangollen, will provide the analysis.

The matches will start with Republic of Ireland v Wales on Friday, March 24.

Other matches shown will be against Serbia away on Sunday, June 11, Wales v Austria on Saturday, September 2, and Moldova v Wales on Tuesday, September 5.

Finally, there are fixtures away at Georgia on October 6 and home against the Republic of Ireland on Monday, October 9.

S4C is also launching “Join The Red Wall”, a multi-platform campaign to promote the live coverage, which will celebrate how the team’s success has captured the imagination of people all over the country.