There has been criticism of plans for £800,000 less to be spent by Welsh Government on a legacy fund to capitalise on the appearance of Wales' women at Euro 2025. Culture minister Jack Sargeant announced the £1m support fund and a marketing campaign aimed at promoting Wales on Tuesday, February 19.

But the following day in the Senedd, Plaid Cymru's Heledd Fychan asked why it was less than half the amount after the men's team's appearance at the World Cup in Qatar. The Welsh Government spent a total of about £3.8m on the 2022 World Cup including £1.8m on an equivalent legacy fund and £1.7m for marketing.

She said: "Whilst I welcome the investment from the Welsh Government, I don’t accept that nearly half the funding allocated for the World Cup in Qatar is acceptable. After all, it’s the first time ever in the history of women’s football here in Wales that the team has qualified for any major tournament.

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"It’s a huge opportunity, not only to promote Wales internationally but to promote participation … especially among women and girls, as part of a preventative health strategy." The women’s team will kick off their campaign against the Netherlands on July 5, with games against France and defending champions England to follow.

Ms Fychan said: "This once again feels like a reactive approach rather than forming part of a wider strategy when our national teams in all sports qualify for major tournaments or major tournaments are held here. The fact that the first steering group meeting didn’t take place until last week and the fact that the fund was only announced yesterday – 11 weeks after the women’s team qualified on December 4 – seems to indicate that precious time has been lost." For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here

Responding to questions in the Senedd, economy secretary Rebecca Evans said: "The £1m fund is a significant opportunity for the Welsh government to support projects and activities that celebrate and create a legacy for Wales women’s historic achievement. Time hasn’t been wasted, it’s been used in terms of engaging with our partners to explore what the core objective should be for this particular fund and for our approach to the tournament more widely."

She said priorities will include promoting Wales to a global audience, projecting the nation’s values around equality and inclusion, and encouraging increased participation. Ms Evans told Senedd members that meaningful performance targets will be attached to the £1m fund, adding that expressions of interest will open on February 21.