00:00You know, to see the whole of Wales and the whole of Cardiff painted in red for a couple
00:06of days is something that makes me massively excited about.
00:10Euro 2028 is set to be hosted across Britain and Ireland, with England, the Republic of
00:15Ireland, Scotland and of course Wales all hosting games.
00:18We though have that very fortunate distinction of hosting the opening fixture.
00:22It's set to be one of the biggest events to ever come to the capital, and former star
00:27Chris Gunter, who was part of the Euro 2016 squad, says he can't wait to see Wales place
00:32firmly on the world stage at the centre of what will be the biggest sporting event of
00:36the year.
00:37Yeah, I think, you know, to have the opening game of a major tournament in the National
00:41Stadium of Wales is a massive thing for us.
00:44All eyes are on, you know, that summer and the first game and that's where, you know,
00:49we're on the biggest stage and everybody's looking at Wales and, you know, our country,
00:54you know, will be spoken about right throughout Europe and the world watching as well.
00:57So it means a huge amount.
01:00I think it shows where the game of football is in Wales and has been because it's, you
01:05know, it's not a given that you get to host, you know, a game in a major tournament to have
01:09the opening game is a huge honour.
01:11I think, you know, there's people that have put in a lot of work, you know, for many years
01:16and it's one that everybody should be proud of and one that I know, you know, for the
01:20players and staff that are there, you know, they'll take full advantage of and yes, one
01:24to definitely celebrate for everybody.
01:26Wales shocked everyone back in Euro 2016 when we made it to the semi-finals and it's hard
01:30to not cast your minds back to that summer as a Wales fan.
01:34So Chris Gunter thinks that we can use all the energy we brought almost a decade ago and
01:38help us on home soil.
01:40A lot, you know, there's a lot of memories and fond memories so I think when you're thinking
01:46ahead to what was to come for us as a country in terms of hosting the tournament or being
01:51part of one of the hosts is massively, massively exciting because of the memories that we had
01:56from that tournament.
01:57So yeah, there would be too many to name or think of but I think the overall pride of us,
02:03you know, being on a big stage, you know, and seeing our country, our flag and our fans
02:09there so yeah, loads of memories and lots of fond memories and yeah, it's an exciting
02:14time for everybody to do with Wales.
02:17It's a few years away just yet but the excitement of hosting is already creeping into people's
02:22minds.
02:23Seeing Cardiff readying up for the event and the Wales fans preparing to hopefully cheer
02:26on the home side is going to be a day like absolutely no other.
02:30Yeah, incredible.
02:31Your mind probably wanders a little bit to the lead up to that first game but yeah, I
02:38think to have, you know, like I said, to have all the fans, you know, whatever part of Wales
02:43you're from, you know, going into Cardiff on, I was going to say the day of the game, it
02:47definitely won't be, it'll be a couple of days before but that atmosphere leading into
02:51it and definitely match day, you know, around the city will be something that we've, you know,
02:57we've never experienced.
Comments