Cardiff offered European carrot

Under current FA regulations, non-English teams do not automatically qualify to represent England, but after UEFA president Michel Platini had expressed his support for Cardiff the FA have decided in their favour.

 An FA statement said: "The Board has given full approval for Cardiff City to participate in next season's UEFA Cup as one of England's representatives, should they win this season's FA Cup.

 "It was decided that the Welsh national anthem would also be played ahead of the game."

   UEFA welcomed the decision. Communications director William Gaillard said: "We entirely understood the FA's reasons for their regulations and had no problems with them.

 "We just believed that if Cardiff did win the cup and were not given qualification for the UEFA Cup then for sporting reasons we would look to offer them a wild card."

   Cardiff take on Portsmouth in the FA Cup final on May 17.