Aaron Ramsey named captain for Euro 2012 qualifier but Gareth Bale ruled out with injury
The 20 year-old has not played for his country in 16 months after an horrific double leg fracture against Stoke.
The vacancy for a new captain arose after Craig Bellamy asked not to be considered due to a long-term knee complaint that will prevent him playing every game.
James Collins, of Aston Villa, and Swansea's Ashley Williams were expected to be the main contenders for the captain's armband but Wales manager Gary Speed has confessed that Ramsey will now hold the post long-term.
Speed said: "I thought about it a lot and spoke to Ramsey before making the decision.
"It carries with it a lot of responsibility and duties but on and off the pitch everyone looks up to him and are confident it is the right decision."
Wales, meanwhile, have taken steps to stress that they were not accusing Tottenham of being "incompetent amateurs" after Bale was forced to pull out of Saturday's international against England.
Bale has been unable to train since reporting for duty in Cardiff and scans last night confirmed he had suffered a hamstring injury before the weekend.
Some reports, though, suggested Bale picked up the knock during training yesterday and Raymond Verheijen, Wales' assistant manager, was furious, responding with the "incompetent amateurs" rant on his Twitter page.
However, to clarify, the Dutchman later added: “Just spoken with the people at Spurs as they thought ‘incompetent amateurs’ had something to do with them. ‘Incompetent amateurs’ are the people who put in the news that Gareth Bale got injured in training with Wales while he did not train at all.
“The ‘breaking news’ this morning about Gareth’s hamstring injury made us look like a bunch of amateurs. We had to protect ourselves.”
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Soooo happy for Aaron but fuckkkkkk nooo Gareth :'(