Thousands of empty seats at Wales match as official crowd figure confirmed

Wales took on Ghana in a friendly in front of a small crowd at the Cardiff City Stadium

Wales played out their first friendly of the summer in front of a sparse crowd against Ghana at the Cardiff City Stadium. Craig Bellamy’s side faced the Black Stars in the first of two games this week, with this clash a celebration of the Football Association Wales’ 150th anniversary.

But having missed out on qualification for the World Cup this summer, this game, which ended 1-1, was always going to be a tough sell for supporters. Read the match report here.

Indeed, the swathes of empty seats on the night firmly suggested this game had failed to capture the imagination of the Red Wall.

Officials had previously estimated around 10,000 tickets had been sold for the game.

It was later confirmed that 11,806 supporters were in attendance on the night.

Several areas of the ground were closed off on the night, including both corners of the Canton End, as well as a large section of the Grange End and the upper tier of the Ninian Stand.

Speaking ahead of the game, Wales boss Craig Bellamy, admitted he had sympathy for supporters.

“It’s a difficult period, I have to be honest,” he said.

“Don’t forget it was half term last week, this is a midweek game.

“If you’ve been with your kids for a week, I’m not sure I want to take them to a game Tuesday night and spend another two hours with them!

“So I understand quite a lot on this. But look, our Nation’s league games will be sold out.”

Ghana’s away support did, however, bring some plenty of colour and noise in the away end.

An estimated 2,000 supporters, mainly decked in yellow, turned up to back Carlos Querioz’s men, who will face Panama, England and Croatia in their group at the upcoming World Cup.

Lewis Koumas scored his first international goal to salvage Wales a 1-1 draw with World Cup-bound Ghana in Cardiff.

Substitute Caleb Yirenkyi delighted the noisy Ghanaian contingent after 66 minutes, converting from close range after the ball had stuck a post.

Ghana fans greeted Yirenkyi’s goal as if it was at the World Cup itself – possibly against group rivals England – rather than at a 33,000-capacity stadium which was around a third full.

But Koumas, sent on as a substitute on the hour, spared Wales’ blushes by nodding home a Neco Williams cross in the third minute of stoppage time.