2. What assessment has the Minister made of how Wales's qualification for the football World Cup finals will impact the Welsh economy? OQ58166

Wales reaching the World Cup finals—the men's team reaching the World Cup finals—has given a huge boost to the whole country. And we are working with the Football Association of Wales and other stakeholders to consider how to maximise the opportunities that will come from Wales's participation on the stage of the biggest sporting event on the globe. I wish the team every success in the finals, on and off the pitch.

Thank you so much. The World Cup will be a unique opportunity to showcase Wales to billions of people—an exciting chance to show that we're a vibrant, inclusive, bilingual nation, appealing both to investors and ordinary people, who may want to visit Wales, to buy Welsh goods, or to come here to study. Have you considered, Minister, making contact with the Icelandic Government, as another small nation that has recent experience of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time, to discuss how they made the most of the economic opportunities? Investment could be made in diverse areas, such as sports diplomacy, tourism, trade relations and, crucially, branding. So, could you give consideration, Minister, to establishing a specialist working group, with experts from both public and private sectors, tasked with maximising the economic opportunities afforded to Wales thanks to Gareth Bale and his wonderful team mates?

I think the Member makes a broad point, and then I'm not sure I'd agree with all of the specifics, but I want to be positive in response. Because Iceland and other smaller countries that have qualified—. I think about our near neighbours, the Republic of Ireland, as well, a relatively small nation, and how successive qualifications have helped with not just the image but actually what that then does for the future of the country. So, we have good relationships with all of our Nordic partners, including Iceland. And the First Minister, of course, was recently in Norway itself, as opposed to Iceland. So, we will continue to want to take advantage of those opportunities, but also to see the context in which Wales qualify now. We already have trading relationships in the Gulf region. When you think about the countries we are playing against in the group, the USA being our first game, it's certainly a key market for us; the biggest market outside Europe is the USA as well. So, we're thinking about how we look to take up all of those opportunities that participation on this stage will give us. And, actually, I think it's a good thing in terms of Wales's place in the wider world that England are in our group. It'll make the clear point that the UK and Britain are not synonymous with England only, having two parts of the UK and having our national teams playing against each other, and I hope that some of my friends and colleagues in England will see me being a magnanimous victor after that game, but, more than that, the big opportunity that this really does present for Wales. 

Minister, it's an incredible opportunity for Wales to have qualified for the World Cup. I know we're all delighted and offer them congratulations on their incredible achievement. As we've outlined already, there are a multitude of opportunities that stem from this for our economy and for the whole of Wales in a multitude of ways. It's an incredible amount of money that has already benefited our economy, and, of course, if they were to reach the semi-final of the World Cup, Robert Page predicts it could provide an even bigger amount of money—£30 million—for the FAW. These moneys offer the Welsh Government an unique opportunity, as Delyth outlined just now, to reinvest that money and truly level up sporting facilities across Wales, showing our commitment, as we will later in the Senedd in today's Plenary session, to future generations. How is this Government going to work with the FAW to ensure that any financial gains from this World Cup are reinvested back into sporting facilities, particularly grass roots, as the chief executive of the FAW has suggested? 

Well, I think Noel Mooney has been very impressive on a number of fronts, particularly with his communication within the game and externally as well, on how the FAW expects to use its resource, in terms of people, its image, its ability to lead conversations as well as participate in them, and not just in terms of the future of the men's game in Wales, but I'm really impressed with his direction and leadership on recognising the importance of the role of football for women and girls—the fastest growth sector for the sport—and I regularly discuss it with him when we meet. And I think, actually, they've also been very clear about the fact that they receive money directly from the UK Government in an area that is transparently devolved, but the way they went about that was that they wanted to be clear they wanted to maintain relationships with the rest of the sporting community within the UK and, indeed, here in Wales as well. So, they've looked to be genuinely balanced and not to have a different approach from our ambitions to see further investment in high-quality grass-roots sporting facilities, and actually he's made the point repeatedly that, for the growth of the game for boys, and girls in particular, there needs to be investment in those facilities. So, we do look forward to seeing how that money will be used.

But the broader point that came from the starting question is about the game itself and the wider opportunity to invest in Wales. And, actually, I had the pleasure of being in Bordeaux in the Euro finals, and it wasn't just a fantastic game of football, but I can honestly say that the way our team behaved on the pitch, the way that our fans behaved in and outside the ground, was a real credit to Wales as well. And so, actually, the behaviour of our fans is one of the things that I highlighted in my recent visit to Qatar—about the high expectations we have for the way that fans will behave and the opportunities we have to project Wales on the wider stage, not just on the field of sporting glory.