Soccer: Green light for Cardiff

Cardiff City will be given a UEFA Cup soccer championship slot as FA Cup winners if the Championship (second division) club beat Portsmouth in next month's final.

England's Football Association said its executive board had approved the plan, overturning a long-standing agreement that Welsh clubs would not represent England in European competition.

European governing body UEFA had said it would discuss the possibility of giving Cardiff a UEFA Cup wild card if the FA had ruled against the club. Cardiff used to be regulars in the defunct Cup Winners' Cup as winners of the Welsh Cup but are making their first appearance in the FA Cup final since their solitary victory in the competition in 1927.