FANS could be able to return to watch sporting events by the end of the year.

First Minister Mark Drakeford, speaking at the Welsh Government coronavirus briefing on Monday, said he could see sports stadiums reopening in some form by the end of 2021.

It could mean that fans would be allowed back to The Racecourse to watch Wrexham AFC during the first full season under new Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McEhenney.

Wales currently has the lowest rate among the four nations, with 65.7 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to February 24.

This is the lowest rate for Wales since the seven days to September 22, 2020.

Wales’ R rate remains below 1 and the total number of coronavirus-related patients in hospital has fallen below 1,500, Mr Drakeford told a press conference in Cardiff.

At the conference, Mr Drakeford said that he hoped Wales was now in the last two weeks of "stay at home" regulations.

“All of these are encouraging signs that the worst of the second wave is hopefully behind us and we can look forward together with confidence to more positive days and weeks ahead of us,” Mr Drakeford said.

He said if things continue to improve, allowing spectators to watch live sport would be one of the measures relaxed - but it would not be as soon as restrictions were eased for education, non-essential retail and tourism.

After being asked if he saw a pathway to sporting events being allowed to open, Mr Drakeford said: "We will continue to push that issue in the way that we did las year, there will be pilots, there will be experiments. If the pilots go well and the situation with the virus continues to improve, then I don't think that its beyond possibility at all that by the end of this calendar year we might see the return of spectators to sporting venues. It would have to be in ways that take full account of the continuing risk of coronavirus."

In December, major sporting bodies in Wales - including Wrexham AFC and Bangor on Dee Races - wrote to the Welsh Government urging it to allow fans back into stadiums and prevent the “real risk of bankruptcy for our sports”.