Regular readers of the Oakeley blog will know just how much we love our sport here at the Oakeley Arms, especially Wales’ best game – rugby!! But, whenever any of our international teams do well in their sport, we want to shout it from the rooftops, and so today’s blog post is dedicated to the brilliant Welsh football team!

24 teams have qualified for the Euro 2016 football competition in France this year, and the Wales International Football team is one of them! This will be the first time in 58 years that Wales have qualified for a major tournament – they last competed in the World Cup in 1958, when they reached the semi-finals of the Swedish hosted contest.

So, it’s been a long time coming – although that’s not through lack of trying. Some of the greatest names in British football, like Ryan Giggs and Ian Rush for example, have played for their home nation during their attempts to qualify for international tournaments, but sadly they never quite made it. This time round, Wales’ super star player, Gareth Bale has already paved the way for a cracking competition for the Welsh team – he scored 7 out of the 11 goals scored during the qualifying process.

Wales have never competed in the European Championships before – the tournament was first held in 1960. It is held every four years, in the years between the World Cup years. There have been 14 tournaments so far, with 9 different international teams taking the title – Germany, Spain, France, Russia, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Netherlands and Greece. Each year it is hosted by a different country; this year the competition will be in France.

The first game for Wales in Euro 2106 will be against Slovakia – on the 11th June, kick off 6pm. As well as Slovakia, Wales also have to compete against football giants England and Russia, who are also in their group.

So, best of luck boys, for Wales in Euro 2016! We’ll be watching your progress with great interest, and cheering you on all the way. You can do it and you’ll make us proud in France!

*Did you know….. The Welsh team were the third in the world to play an official international match. They competed in a friendly against Scotland on 25th March 1876, although they lost 4-0 when they lost 4-0. It was a wholly amateur squad though, and included a soldier, two lawyers, a timber merchant, a stonemason and a miner…..

Gareth Bale in his Wales kit.