With players, staff and supporters of the Cymru men's football team preparing to leave Qatar to return home, I wanted to take the opportunity today to convey our thanks to all of them, together with the Red Wall who supported them here in Wales. Although our journey has come to an end and there is a natural sense of disappointment, there is also so much to celebrate, and that's what I'd like to reflect on today.

Reaching the world cup for the first time since 1958 was a tremendous achievement, and a source of pride for the entire nation. This is the first time ever for a great many of us to see our national team in the tournament, and the team has managed to motivate fans of all ages and show the world that this small country that we love is 'still here'— ‘yma o hyd’.

At such a difficult time for so many people following COVID and now the cost-of-living crisis, hasn't it been great to have the chance to celebrate our nation and to see a sea of red and bucket hats across the nation and on our tv screens? I'm sure that I wasn't the only one to have tears in my eyes while watching our first game against the USA on tv and hearing our anthem echoing through the stadium and realising that it was the first time for it ever to have been heard by so many people.

And a special tribute must be paid to the way in which the Football Association of Wales, led by Noel Mooney and also Ian Gwyn Hughes, have ensured that Wales, not just the association, has benefited from this incredible opportunity, building on the great work that the association has been doing for years, seeking to modernise and collaborate with the Red Wall, and ensuring that football belongs to everyone in Wales, and that the word ‘Cymru’ also belongs to everyone, whether you speak Welsh or not.

The pinnacle of this work was seeing our history, our language and our values at the heart of the whole world cup campaign. I will never forget being in Cardiff City stadium when we secured our place in the world cup and seeing the whole team, with Dafydd Iwan in their midst, singing 'Yma o Hyd', and even a few members of the Tory party singing 'Er gwaetha’r hen Fagi a’i chriw'—don't worry, I won’t name you today. As Dafydd Iwan said when he was interviewed in Qatar, regardless of the result in the tournament, without a doubt, Wales has won. And as Gareth Bale said when he was interviewed last night, looking ahead to the Euros: