Millennium Champions League final 'great' for Wales - Jason Perry

The Millennium Stadium hosted the Rugby World Cup final in 1999

Hosting the Champions League final at the Millennium Stadium would give Wales global sporting prominence, says former Cardiff City captain Jason Perry.

BBC Wales Sport has learned the Cardiff arena is expected to stage European club football's flagship match in 2017.

Perry believes hosting a game of such magnitude would benefit Wales.

"It's about bringing the spotlight on Wales through the power of sport, and there's nothing bigger than the Champions League final," he said.

"It's a major event in the world calendar. It's great for Cardiff, our capital city, and I think it's great for Wales."

Uefa, European football's governing body, will make an official announcement on Monday, 29 June in Prague, Czech Republic.

The 74,500-capacity Millennium Stadium missed out on hosting matches for the 2020 European Championship.

But the venue has hosted a wide range of events including the FA Cup final, League Cup final, Community Shield and Football League play-offs from 2001 to 2006, while Wembley was being redeveloped. Olympic football matches were played there in 2012.

Former Cardiff defender Jason Perry (right) won his only cap for Wales against Norway in 1994

Cardiff City Stadium played host to the 2014 Super Cup, in which Real Madrid - the club of Wales star Gareth Bale - beat Sevilla.

Perry would love to see Bale or one of his Wales team-mates play in a Champions League final at the Millennium Stadium.

"Hopefully we will have a Welshman playing in that because we're doing well at international level," he told BBC Wales Today.

"We will benefit from it in the short term and the long term because we know how to host an event."