Archive June 2, 2025

Wales vs. Liechtenstein qualifier for the Euro.

Cardiff City Stadium Date: Friday, June 6th Kickoff: 19:45 BST

As Wales attempt to win back-to-back World Cup matches in order to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, Harry Wilson wants to make history in Belgium.

Craig Bellamy’s side travel to Cardiff on Friday to face group winners Belgium in Brussels three days later.

Wilson made his first appearance for Wales in 2013, when he started as a 16-year-old substitute, and the trip to the King Baudouin Stadium represents a return to the scene.

Wilson says Bellamy’s in-form team should aim for their first ever away win in Belgium despite their initial camp goal being to defeat Liechtenstein.

“We still have to go out there and perform,” Wilson said, adding that “international football has shown us that these are not easy games. “Of course, on paper people will think we should win [against Liechtenstein] comfortably,” he said.

Wales have a strong record against Belgium, which they defeated in their Euro 2016 qualifying match and ultimately lost to them.

It is amazing to have a record as good as that of a country as good as they are, which has been a golden era for the past ten and fifteen years, Wilson said.

“I’m not sure why the record is that good, but we can hopefully keep it going,” he said.

In September 2022, Wales lost to Belgium in Brussels when Kieffer Moore’s goal was ineffective and resulted in a 2-1 Nations League defeat for the hosts.

They have won eight of their previous eight games since Bellamy took over in the summer of 2024, but they have never won in Belgium. They will now travel confidently.

Wilson, who is in line to win his 61st cap against Liechtenstein, said, “We’ve gone eight games without losing since the manager’s come in. It’s not easy at all.

Wilson, who was then at Liverpool, received his chance in a 1-1 draw in Belgium in 2013, making him the youngest male international for Wales ever.

Wilson still holds the record for Wales’ youngest senior international, having been one of their most influential players for a decade.

Wilson remarked, “At the time, I didn’t know about the record.”

“At the time, it was just about starting to get better for my country.” It was something I’d always wanted to do, so it was amazing when I was just starting out.

Then, a few years away, which made me even more hungry to ensure that I was reinstated and really started to rack up the caps.

“I didn’t want to just be a 16-year-old one-cap.” I aspired to be a team staple. Although it took me a while, I now feel that way.

In a World Cup qualifier played behind closed doors due to the Covid pandemic, Wilson added another memorable moment in Belgium in 2021 when he put the finishing touches on a fantastic team move to open the scoring.

Wilson is proud of the team’s goal, which was “one of the better” ones, despite Wales’ eventual 3-1 defeat.

To score a team goal like that was amazing, he continued. The team they had out that night was one of their strongest.

The government’s proposed choice of David Kogan as chair of English football’s new independent regulator faces a “full inquiry” by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

William Shawcross has written to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), saying the move was “necessary” after “an initial assessment of this case, informed by spot checks”.

He added Kogan and the Secretary of State Lisa Nandy are likely to be interviewed, and his inquiry would ensure the selection “was made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments”.

In April, Nandy said the 68-year-old sports media rights executive was the “outstanding candidate” to fill the position, despite not being on the original three-person shortlist.

She has now removed herself from the final decision, delegating responsibility to the Sports Minister.

Last month, Kogan told MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee (CMS) during a pre-appointment hearing that he was being “utterly transparent” by declaring his donations.

The committee endorsed Kogan, but said he must work to “reassure the football community that he will act impartially and in a politically neutral way”. Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage warned that Kogan’s “past donations to the Labour Party will inevitably leave him open to charges of political bias in a job where independence is paramount”.

Kogan said he had donated “very small sums” to the campaigns, as well as thousands of pounds to Labour MPs and candidates in recent years, but had “total personal independence from all of them” and pledged “total political impartiality” if appointed.

A DCMS spokesperson said: “We have received the letter from the Commissioner for Public Appointments and we look forward to co-operating fully with his office.

“The appointment is in the process of being ratified in the usual way.”

Kogan declined to comment.

It has also emerged that Nandy has written to the CMS Committee and told them: “I heard clearly the Committee’s comments regarding David’s transparency and candour regarding previous political donations that he had made and the need for him to take concrete steps to avoid the perception of any bias or lack of independence from government.

“As a first step to avoid any risk of this, I am writing to inform you that I have delegated the final decision on the chair’s appointment to the Minister for Sport.”

Conservative shadow sports minister Louie French has previously said the failure to disclose the donations when first put forward for the role was “a clear breach of the governance code on public appointments”.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister added Kogan had been appointed through a “fair and open competition”, and the BBC has been told his donations were below the threshold that requires declaring.

The Football Governance Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament after being reintroduced by the Labour government in October, will establish a first independent regulator for the professional men’s game in England.

The legislation will hand power to a body independent from government and football authorities to oversee clubs in England’s top five divisions.