Wales manager Rob Page has confirmed that Gareth Bale will continue his playing career past this season if the country reaches the World Cup.
Questions have been raised about whether the 32-year-old could retire in the summer, with his contract at Real Madrid expiring at the end of the season.
Though he rarely features for the Spanish giants, he still plays a massive part of the Welsh national team and produced a heroic display in the 2-1 victory over Austria last month.
Wales will host the winners of Scotland's clash with Ukraine in the play-off final to make the tournament in Qatar this November.
Page has told the Athletic: 'If we get to the World Cup in November, then he will definitely be playing football. The World Cup is his dream, the one thing missing from his CV.
'Where he'll play, I'm not sure. Whether he comes home, stays in Spain, fancies another challenge, I really don't know.'
Bale has starred in two European Championships for his country, making the semi-finals in 2016 and the Round of 16 last year.
However, he has yet to play in a World Cup with the country failing to make it out of the World Cup qualifiers during his time in the game.
Should Wales qualify for Qatar it would mark a tremendous achievement, seeing that they have not qualified for the World Cup since the 1958 tournament in Sweden.
Despite scoring 106 goals in 258 appearances, Bale's time at Real Madrid has been tumultuous.
He has faced heavy criticism from the Spanish media after excelling for his country while playing a small role for Carlo Ancelotti's side at club level.
Spanish paper Marca launched a scathing attack on the forward last month, labelling him a 'parasite' and accusing him of 'sucking' the club's money despite helping them to win 14 trophies during his nine years at the club.
Writing on his social media channels, Bale described the article as ‘slanderous, derogatory and speculative’.
In regards to the comments by the Spanish publication, Page said: 'I'm absolutely appalled by it. I know Gareth well now and a lot of people don't see what he does off the pitch, the donations he made to the NHS recently, to a hospital in Cardiff — a considerable amount of money.
'He doesn't get credit for that because he doesn't shout about it and people don't hear about it. He keeps it to himself. That parasite comment made my blood boil. I don't like that. That's not the Gareth Bale who is the captain of our country, who represents us. And he never will be that.'
Bale has also struggled to win over Real Madrid's fans who loudly booed him as he made his first competitive appearance at the Santiago Bernabeu in more than two years, when he came off the bench in the 2-0 win over Getafe at the weekend.
Sportsmail previously reported that Bale will make a decision on his long-term future after Wales' World Cup decider this summer.
His agent Jonathan Barnett told Sportsmail that there is a 'lot of interest'.
He said: ‘We have had a lot of interest in him but we have not done anything. After June we will discuss what we want to do.
‘I have been saying for years he is one of Britain’s greatest, most successful sports stars. If he hasn’t had the credit he deserves, it’s because he doesn’t speak much publicly. He is a quiet lad but I don’t understand why he hasn’t been treated better.’