Soccer-FA give Cup finalists Cardiff green light for UEFA Cup

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Cardiff City will be given a UEFA Cup slot as FA Cup winners if the Championship (second division) club beat Portsmouth in next month's final.

The Football Association said on Thursday that 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.

The board also decided that the Welsh national anthem would be played before the Wembley final on May 17, the FA said on its Web site (www.thefa.com).

Tottenham Hotspur have already secured one of England's three UEFA Cup places after winning the League Cup.

Along with the FA Cup winners, another place will go to the fifth-placed finisher, likely to be Everton, Aston Villa or Portsmouth.

Should Portsmouth win the Cup and finish fifth, Cardiff would not qualify for the UEFA Cup and England's final slot would go to the sixth-placed finisher.

(Writing by Mitch Phillips, editing by Trevor Huggins)