The Fulham defender will be badly missed by both club and country as a double fracture of his right leg will finish his season.

This will damage Fulham's promotion bid, but it may hurt Wales' World Cup qualification ambitions more.

Fulham are all but up after a fabulous season in the first division, but Wales will be without their most experienced defender in four crunch World Cup qualifiers between now and June.

Coleman sustained a fracture of the right tibia and fibula and a fracture of the right ankle, for which he has received surgery to realign and repair.

Wales assistant manager Mark Bowen said:

"It's a massive blow. Losing Chris for four qualifying matches is a tragedy for Wales.

"Obviously we are all most concerned about Chris' health, that comes first. But in football terms, it's a savage blow for Wales.

"Mark Hughes (Wales manager) frequently says that we need all our best players fit an available, and then we have a chance.

"We have such a small pool to chose from, so when you lose someone like Chris it's very serious for us.

"He has been magnificent for his country, and is a real influence on the rest of the squad and in the dressing room.

"Maybe it's a big blow for Fulham, but they will surely get promotion without him. For Wales it's a loss we just can't afford."

Coleman's Jaguar car crashed through a wall and collided with a tree late on Tuesday night in Bletchingley, Surrey.

Fulham released a statement to clarify details of Coleman's accident.

"Chris was travelling home and lost control of his vehicle due to the slippery conditions caused by recent heavy rains and snow in his area," said the statement.

"The accident happened at approximately 9pm last night and it was not until 10.30pm that Chris was freed from the wreckage of his car by the emergency services. An operation was carried out soon after midnight."

He was taken to East Surrey hospital where he had an operation on his right leg, having broken both fibula and tibia.

Fears that he had broken both legs in the accident, after which he had to be cut from his car, were unfounded.

The first Fulham game that club captain Coleman will miss is Sunday's FA Cup third-round clash at home to Premiership leaders and champions Manchester United.

But for Wales, there is a long-term problem. They play in Armenia on March 24 and in Cardiff against Ukraine four days later.

On June 2 Wales are at home to Poland and four days later they play Ukraine away.

Those four games will decide whether Wales have any hope of qualifying from Group Five, after two encouraging draws against Norway and in Poland last year.

Improving defence

"Chris has been outstanding in both those games, and we have been pretty happy with the way our defence has been playing," said Bowen.

"In fact, we have been on a training camp to La Manga and spent all the time working on our forward play because we were so confident of the way the back line was operating.

"We actually played Chris as a left-back for the first time in years, and he had taken to it brilliantly.

"It had also sent out a message to the rest of the lads that if one of our most experienced men was prepared to change his position for the good of the team without any complaint, then that was the sort of response we were looking for."

Fulham

Coleman could be replaced for club and country by Kit Symons, who has had to play second fiddle to his Fulham team-mate for months.

Coleman, who has 31 caps, joined Fulham from Blackburn for �2.1million in November 1997 and has been a key figure in the Craven Cottage club's rise from the second division to the top of the first.

Fulham managing director Michael Fiddy said:

"Everyone at the club is deeply concerned about the incident involving Chris.

"At this stage our thoughts are with Chris and we wish him a speedy and full recovery. He will be given the best possible care to aid this recovery."