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Wales will make an 11,000-mile round-trip for a potential clash with Luis Suarez’s Uruguay after agreeing a big-money invitation to compete in next year’s China Cup.

The Chinese FA confirmed Wales’ participation in March’s four-team tournament that also includes the hosts – managed by former Italy boss Marcello Lippi – and the Czech Republic.

Wales will be guaranteed to play two games, with both to be staged in Nanning in the Guangxi region some 1,000 miles south of Beijing, bordering Vietnam.

It is a huge logistical undertaking for Wales and there will be some question marks over clubs releasing key men for such a long trip approaching crunch stages of the British and European seasons. The first-legs of the Champions League quarter-finals, for example, are little more than one week after the final and third/fourth play-off to be staged at the 60,000-capacity Guangxi Sports Centre. The tournament is currently scheduled to take part between March 19 and March 27.

Still, the potential presence of Gareth Bale has been reported as a major factor in Wales’ invite. The competition’s official launch that took place this week confirmed Wales’ involvement, citing that Wales have “always had some of the world's top players” and that “Chinese fans are expected to witness the performance of international top player Bale.”

And it’s believed the participation will be a lucrative deal for the FAW who have been keen to build on the greater profile of the national team following its historic run to the Euro 2016 semi-finals.

Manager Chris Coleman said of the invite last week: “I think it's very positive. It's good for us to be involved in something like that. We would never asked to be involved in something like that three or four years ago, but now we're being asked to go to a mini-tournament against some really good teams. That's a really positive thing for Wales.”

The China Cup is backed by sponsors in China and comes after a successful 2017 tournament involving the hosts, Iceland and Croatia.

Chile won the tournament, beating Iceland in the final, though it was noticeable that the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Luka Modric were absent from the various squads.