READING FC full-back Chris Gunter will become the most capped male player in the history of Welsh football tonight.

Gunter is set to make his 93rd appearance for his country against Albania to surpass the previous record of 92 held by former Everton keeper, Neville Southall.

And one of the first people to congratulate Gunter on his landmark achievement was 60-year-old Southall himself.

He tweeted: “Have a great night. Proud it was you who will now hold the record. Congratulations. Top player. Top guy. Respect.”


Gunter equalled Southall’s record when he came off the bench in the 2-1 Nations League defeat to Denmark in Cardiff last Friday.

Wales boss Ryan Giggs has already confirmed the 29-year-old will start against Albania in a friendly in Elbasan tonight.

But the ever-modest Gunter, who was planning to use Gareth Bale’s private jet to fly his family and friends to the game, was quick to deflect the personal attention he is getting.

"I've always said it's not about caps, it's the team,” he stated. “I could have broken every single record under the sun but the only thing that would bother me would be the result."

Around 2,000 Wales supporters have made the tricky trip to Albania to see Gunter break the appearance record.

"It's fitting in a way to do it in front of those fans,” he added.

"A lot of those who will be in Albania have been to far and wide places where I've picked up a lot of my caps.

"To do it in front of those fans who spend their hard-earned money getting to all these places would be a huge honour."

Giggs added: “Chris deservers to start. What a fantastic achievement to beat Nev’s record. It shows the commitment, the character and the drive of Chris to get this many caps.”

Gunter made his Wales debut in a 2-2 draw against New Zealand at Wrexham in 2007.

He played every minute of Wales’ Euro 2016 campaign which saw them lose in the semi final to eventual winners, Portugal, describing it as “the best six weeks of my life.”

Elsewhere, Royals midfielder Leandro Bacuna featured for Curacao’s 6-0 win of Guadeloupe in a CONCACAF Nations League qualifier on Monday.

Goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola and midfielder David Meyler were both unused substitutes as Finland lost 2-0 to Hungary and Republic or Ireland drew 0-0 with Denmark.

Yakou Meite was on the bench for Ivory Coast in a 1-1 draw with Guinea, as was Andy Yiadom for Ghana in a 2-0 win against Ethiopia, both African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Teenage striker Danny Loader helped England U19s secure a place in the elite round of qualifying for the 2019 European Under 19 Championships.

The 18-year-old scored in a 4-0 win against Moldova, was a late substitute in a 3-1 win against Iceland and played the first half in a 1-0 loss to Turkey today.

Royals duo Tom McIntyre and Ben House played for Scotland U20s in a 2-0 friendly defeat to Turkey in Murcia, Spain, on Saturday.