Ryan Giggs set to be announced as Wales manager
Ryan Giggs will begin what he has described as "one of the top jobs" in coaching when he is named Wales manager later today.
The former Wales and Manchester United winger is expected to be named as Chris Coleman’s successor.
The Football Association of Wales said it would announce the identity of the new manager on Twitter ahead of a 2pm press conference at Hensol Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Bore da! There’s a press conference at 2:00pm, which will be live at https://t.co/ZvDcR76BlV.
— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) January 15, 2018
Before that though, keep your 👀 on this account throughout the day. #TogetherStronger 🏴 pic.twitter.com/TUqCHhRe2T
Giggs, 44, has been the clear favourite for the role since he declared his interest in the job last month, saying: "I’ve played for Wales and I’ve said that I want to go back into coaching.
"Obviously that is one of the top jobs."
This will be Giggs’ first permanent job in management, although he was in interim charge at Manchester United for four games at the end of the 2013-14 season after David Moyes was sacked.
Giggs was interviewed for the Wales job last week, as was his former international team-mate Craig Bellamy and Osian Roberts, Coleman’s former assistant who is also the FAW’s technical director.
Former Wales defender Mark Bowen was also interviewed after leaving his role as Stoke’s assistant manager a few days earlier.
Giggs’ contract, which it is understood will take in the Euro 2020 and 2022 World Cup campaigns, was tied up over the weekend.
The FAW was keen to make the appointment before the UEFA Nations League draw, which takes place in Switzerland on January 24.
Giggs, who won 64 Wales caps between 1991 and 2007, has been out of football for 18 months since leaving the coaching staff at Manchester United.
He spent two seasons as Louis van Gaal’s assistant coach, but he left Old Trafford in the summer of 2016 following Jose Mourinho’s appointment as manager.
That ended a long association with the club where he made a record 963 appearances as a player, scoring 168 goals.
Coleman spent nearly six years as Wales manager before leaving to take over Sky Bet Championship strugglers Sunderland in November.
He became the most successful manager in Welsh football history when he guided the country to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 - Wales’ first major tournament for 58 years. But Coleman’s departure came on the back of Wales failing to qualify for this summer’s World Cup in Russia.
