FAW secretary David Collins spent time at Euro 2008

Football Association of Wales secretary David Collins has welcomed plans to expand the European Championships from 16 to 24 teams, starting from 2016.

The proposals were first submitted by the Scottish and Irish FA last year with Wales' backing.

And on Saturday, senior officials of all 53 Uefa member nations unanimously agreed to them, with a final decision by Uefa being made on 23 September.

"I think it will bring major benefits," said Collins.

Anything that will give our chances of making a major championship a boost has to be a good thing Wales assistant coach Dean Saunders

"One of the off-spins is that the qualifying games for the Championships could go down to the last games.

"If you've got the opportunity of finishing third [in the group] you might have to go into a play-off for the final place, but it takes the dead games out of the qualifiers.

"There are many positives to doing this."

And Wales assistant boss Dean Saunders says such a move would be good for the country.

He said: "Anything that will give our chances of making a major championship a boost has to be a good thing.

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"If you look at a team like Turkey in Euro 2008, they nearly made the final - when you get to the big tournaments you can raise your game and surprise people there."

Not only would the proposals boost Wales' hopes of qualifying for a major tournament for the first time since 1958, but they could also find themselves involved in Euro 2016 as hosts.

The FAW has held talks with Scotland on a joint bid to host the European Championships.

"The talks are tentative, but we need to look at the 2009/10 bidding process, with a possible bid for the 2016 event," said Collins.