THE Football Association of Wales has announced that the upcoming friendly against the USA has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Euro 2020 warm-up match was due to take place at the Cardiff City Stadium on Monday, March 30.

The friendly against Austria at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium on March 27 is still on at the moment.

Jonathan Ford, CEO of the FAW said: “We are disappointed to see any postponement or cancellation of matches but understand that the health and safety of all fans, players and stakeholders are paramount.”

Fans who have bought tickets for the USA game will receive a full refund for the face value.

Refunds will be processed over the next 14 working days and will be returned to each customer via the same method of payment as the original booking.

For those who purchased via cash or cheque, they will be refunded via bank transfer.

Card refunds will be processed back to the credit or debit card used for the booking. If this card has expired supporters will be contacted by a member of the ticketing team.

Tickets already received will be void and cannot be used for any future match.

The FAW statement concludes: “At the present time, the match between Wales v Austria at the Liberty Stadium on March 27 is still taking place, but we are monitoring the situation closely with UEFA, the Welsh and UK Governments and related agencies.”

Next week's Champions League tie between Manchester City and Real Madrid has also been postponed because of the virus.

But the domestic football schedule is set to proceed as planned this weekend.

Playing matches behind closed doors has been mooted as one solution but that would deprive lower-league clubs of their "lifeblood" from ticket revenue, according to football finances expert Dr Rob Wilson.

"Matchday ticket revenue tends to be referred to as the lifeblood of clubs in the lower divisions," said Wilson.

" It is not like in the Premier League where there is this huge TV deal, matchday revenues are essential.

"If we look at the numbers, a Premier League club might lose something in the order of three or four million (pounds) a match.

"A lower league club might lose a few hundred thousand if a few matches got cancelled.

"Proportionally, though, that few hundred thousand to a lower-league club could well be 20 or 30 per cent of their annual turnover, and that is why it becomes so significant to them."