Culture, standards, professionalism - How Welsh football turned a corner

Meticulous planning has been going into Welsh football from the top down for more than a decade and the fruits have been two trips to the Euros, where they reached the semi-final in 2016, and now the Holy Grail, the World Cup in Qatar.

Wales' Gareth Bale (left) celebrates with team-mates after qualifying for the Qatar World Cup following victory in the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifier play-off final match at Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff. Picture date: Sunday June 5, 2022.

Wales is officially a football nation! Or least for the next six months as they prepare to go to their first World Cup finals since 1958.

A recent Uefa survey found football had overtaken rugby as the top sport in the country and last weekend’s victory over Ukraine underlined that fact.