THE Football Association of Wales say they are “extremely disappointed” to miss out for a second time on hosting Euro 2020 matches.

The tournament is being staged across 13 countries to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first European Championships in 1960.

Cardiff missed out in the initial bidding process and has now been snubbed for a second time London will instead host seven games during the tournament after UEFA today handed the four fixtures scheduled for Brussels to Wembley.

UEFA decided to reallocate the three group-stage games and one last-16 game originally given to the Belgian capital because of delays in the project to build a new 60,000-capacity Eurostadium on the site of Heysel.

Cardiff's Principality Stadium and Stockholm's Friends Arena – the venues for last season's finals of the Champions League and Europa League, respectively – had hoped to pick up Brussels' games.

However, UEFA opted for Wembley, which has already been chosen as the venue for the semi-finals and final.

Glasgow's Hampden Park had been hoping to stage the tournament's opening game but that honour has gone to Rome's Stadio Olimpico.

A statement released after the decision made clear the FAW’s disappointment.

“The Football Association of Wales (FAW) and all its stakeholders are extremely disappointed with the news that its bid to secure four UEFA EURO 2020 matches at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff has been unsuccessful,” it read.

“Over the past four years, Wales has successfully staged three UEFA events – firstly, the UEFA Super Cup final in 2014, followed by the UEFA men’s and women’s Champions League finals in June this year.

“UEFA ranked the UEFA Champions League final as one of their best events and praised the way in which the Cardiff 2017 local organising committee delivered the showpiece.

“The concept of taking UEFA EURO 2020 to 13 different countries was devised to allow smaller countries, like Wales, to have a unique opportunity of being involved in staging a major tournament.

“Wales has never staged a EURO or World Cup Final and this was its one and only chance of doing so.

“The FAW complied with all of the bid requirements and has written to UEFA to request feedback on the decision so that it can understand the reasons behind the vote for future reference.

“The FAW wishes the FA and Wembley Stadium the very best for UEFA EURO 2020, which is sure to be a fantastic tournament.

“The FAW will now fully concentrate its efforts on ensuring that the Wales national team has the very best opportunity to qualify for and participate at UEFA EURO 2020.”