World Cup 2022: How qualification could transform Welsh football on and off the field

There is a chance of history happening. It feels like it has been there for a long time for Wales.

Their 58-year wait for a major tournament came to an end in Euro 2016 as they rode the wave of new highs on their way to a first semi-finals. They qualified for the next European Championships.

Wales missed out on the World Cup for the first time in 56 years when they were eliminated in the play-off final.

The near misses of the intervening years are ingrained in the Welsh football mindset. The sweetest way to break that cycle would be to kill it.

It's clear that a lot is clear. It's hard to quantify what a World Cup qualification would mean in practical terms.

Wales's most successful era could be a turning point.

Robert Page says it's huge for everyone in Wales.

It's the biggest game in Welsh history. We are all excited by that and there is no hiding behind that.

'The numbers are astronomical'

The financial rewards for large countries that qualify for the World Cup are unremarkable. They would make a big difference for the Football Association of Wales.

The FAW would earn around half of its turnover if it qualified for the World Cup. If Wales were to make it to another semi- final, that could raise that figure to more than $37m.

The accounts for the financial year up to July 2020 saw the FAW make a post-tax loss of over one million pounds after making a profit the previous year.

The following year saw fans return for home matches and prize money for the Euro 2020 qualification. More than $8m for World Cup qualification would be a significant boost.

The national men's team have written their place in history regardless of whether we qualify on the 5th of June or not, says the FAW chief executive.

We've been to two major tournaments in the last four years. We are close to getting to the mother or father of the World Cup. That is not the same gravy as the other one.

There are over 200 countries who can play in this game.

You have the practicality of making some money. It's great that teams that qualify for the World Cup will get a lot of money.

Some of the sponsorships could be as high as 1 million dollars.

The rule of thumb in Europe is that a third of operations will go to the players and a third will go back into the development of football in Wales.

The FAW would benefit from the north of 3 million dollars going into grassroots facilities.

There is a briefcase that is worth a lot of money to the winners.

'Millions of miles off where we need to be with grassroots'

Knowing how to spend more money is one thing.

The men's senior team was the main beneficiary of the income from the Euro 2016 qualification.

The qualification for Euro 2020 and the purchase of world-class training facilities at the FAW's headquarters have been the result of that work.

The governing body has increased its spending on women's and youth football and is now focused on the community game.

We need to be prepared for another spurt of growth in football and Wales if we make the World Cup. There are grassroots facilities that we need to do that.

Our greatest weakness is that. The grassroots facilities are not available. It's a shame that girls and boys don't play football in Wales because it would make the country better.

We need to be confident going forward. We need to spend a lot of money on facilities. We will be a better nation if we do that.

The national teams and the FAW will help out. We will get to major tournaments and people will want to play sports and play football, no problem.

We need partners to help us build the pitches that we need.

We are millions of miles away from where we need to be.

In August or September we will announce a new fund for grassroots football that will allow all of our clubs to apply to improve their facilities." It's so important that the Welsh government and our local authorities are with us on that journey and that we change Wales for the better.

'An opportunity to sell Wales to the world'

FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford was critical of the politics behind Uefa's decision when it came to missing out on the Euro 2020 games.

It sounded like it was out of place. There was a feeling that the Welsh delegation had been outmanoeuvred by their counterparts from Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.

The FAW wants to have more power in the corridors of power.

It also helps that the current chief executive spent a decade with Uefa, working as head of national associations business development after joining from the Football Association of Ireland.

If Wales wants to become a more influential player, there is work to be done.

Laura was narrowly defeated in the election to become Uefa's female representative on the council.

The former Wales captain has held a number of high-ranking administrative roles in sport and has been the deputy chair of Uefa's women's football committee for the past year.

"I would like to see us become an example of good governance, where we have independent voices who speak up for the strategy of developing the game, who speak up for the women's game and the grassroots game, and so on and so forth."

I'm not trying to belittle the Euros - that's an enormous tournament and to do so well there did catapult Wales onto the global stage - but the World Cup is a level beyond again."

It's building on the good vibes we have. We've qualified for consecutive Euros, we've been close so many times to the World Cup, and a lot of us have been at those games where we've come close.

It's not a small country. We probably don't deserve to be in the World Cup if we can't beat Ukraine at home. If we play as we can, we should do it. Everything else we want to do in the game is based on that.

The government in Wales can use football and sport to sell Wales as a modern, technologically-advanced, inclusive nation. It will allow us to sell Wales to the world.

Wales could benefit from World Cup qualification.

If Wales is to be a confident nation on the global stage, it must have clear plans in place.

Making the most of the opportunity is what it is about. We can't expect the rewards and largesse to come if we just stumbled into it.

Consistency in how we talk about Wales is important for sports diplomacy.

"We're not a poor nation that's always punching above its weight on the sporting stage, we're a nation that's always been successful in sporting terms but maybe hasn't capitalized on that in economic and political terms."

"It will require a lot of work in a short period of time - and I'm not suggesting this is something that's not already under way - but if we qualify forQatar on Sunday we have only got a period of months to get organised and set an ambitious target for what