March 2026 will see Wales plus three other nations - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Northern Ireland - fight it out for one of the four UEFA golden tickets for next year's World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
The Red Dragons are bidding to qualify for the global showpiece in back-to-back tournaments for the first time in their history, and have the added boost of knowing that, should they beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-finals, their play-off final would also be at the Cardiff City Stadium.
But thanks to the unique way in which FIFA operate, that potential double header may well be the final golden tickets the Red Wall get to snap up next year.
Not content with just making fans travel thousands of miles between venues for the tournament, the governing body seems determined to give supporters the privilege of bankrupting themselves for doing so.
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Tickets for group stage fixtures will cost up to THREE times as much as they did in the most recent tournament in Qatar.
The cheapest ticket for the World Cup final - which will be held at New Jersey's 82,500-seater MetLife Stadium - will cost £3,119.
The Football Supporters' Association (FSA) called ticket prices a "laughable insult" to fans, with many likely to be unable to follow their team, live, in person, next summer.
FIFA did this week announce that "more affordable" £45 tickets would be made available for all 104 matches at the tournament, although that will apply to around just 400 tickets for each nation's sets of fans.
A tiny crumb thrown down from Giovanni Infantino’s corporate banqueting table.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw - who played for Toronto and Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada and Chicago Fire in the USA - told BBC Radio Wales: "It should be about getting people into the stadium, not just the local ones, it should be about 'what's the average costs of people flying in from different countries?'.
"I hate the fact that it would be way too expensive for people to go."
Having been urged not to travel to watch Rob Page's side at Euro 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Red Wall faced another blow little more than a year later as they had to fork out hefty sums to make their way to Qatar for what was their nation's first appearance at a World Cup since 1958.
To their credit, supporters still travelled in great numbers, although nowhere near to the volume that they did for Euro 2016 in France.
It will particularly sting for fans in the north of Wales, who already have to navigate their nation's notoriously shoddy public transport to attend home matches in the Welsh capital as it is.
That’s two long and pricey trips from the north to Cardiff, before they’ve even turned to the dollar swallow.
Scotland did remarkably well to qualify automatically for next summer's tournament, but the fact boss Steve Clarke has warned the Tartan Army not to get into debt by following the nation next summer spoke volumes.
"If you can get there and you can afford to be there, then fantastic, but don't push yourself too far into debt trying to get there," he told BBC Scotland.
Of course, Scotland will almost certainly be well backed as they take on Haiti, Morocco and five-time champions Brazil in the group stages next year.
Wales, too, would undoubtedly have a significant backing should they do the business against Bosnia and Herzegovina and then against Italy or Northern Ireland in the play-off final, although Clarke's words would likely strike a chord with Wales boss Craig Bellamy.
If they do manage to earn the aforementioned golden ticket, Wales fans will head to Toronto to watch their side take on co-hosts Canada on June 12.
They would then need to travel to Los Angeles for a fixture with Switzerland on June 18 before heading to Seattle to take on Qatar six days later.
It means supporters would be required to travel more than 3,600 miles within the north of America, and then you have to factor in the 8,000 plus miles of travelling both ways across the Atlantic.
There is also the small matter of sorting accommodation and requiring what would be a significant amount of spending money given the minimum time required to follow the team at the tournament will be around two weeks.
All in all, it feels like a real kick in the teeth for fans, particularly ahead of what are likely to be, again, should they make it through the semi-final, two special nights in the Welsh capital in March.
It may be a case of 'let's cross that bridge when we come to it', but thanks to FIFA, many Welsh supporters will have to enjoy their own World Cup finals in March.






