Jonathan Ford, the former FA of Wales chief executive, had a dream - for the famous Welsh football crest to be on the bedroom wall of every youngster from Cardiff to Caernarfon, Abergavenny to Aberystwyth, Porthcawl to Prestatyn.
Ambitious, but the emergence of Gareth Bale and those Euros certainly helped break down some barriers.
Ford's successor in the role, Noel Mooney, has even greater aspirations. He possesses an incredible wide-ranging vision for Welsh football which will put the game on a firm footing for decades to come. We're talking everything here - national team, the Red Wall, grassroots, domestic game, funding. You name it, Mooney is leaving no stone unturned.
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Less than a year into the job, the FAW boss is celebrating reaching, and beginning preparations for, the World Cup. He's the fortunate one. His predecessors in the role had 64 years of hurt.
But for Mooney, Qatar 2022 is just the start. He hopes the new global profile Wales will have this autumn will help drive forward his dream under the strategy 'Our Wales, A Sustainable Association Of The Future'.
At the centre of everything is to make football the hub of communities up and down the land and Mooney makes analogies with Luca Modric's Croatia and the New Zealand rugby team. The populations in those two countries stand at around four million and five million respectively, a shade larger than Wales, but the sports are embedded into everybody.
"Croatia is a good example. They qualify for every single tournament, compete to get to semi-finals and finals regularly. That stems from football being in the DNA, how youngsters growing up want to watch and play the game, even aspire to the very top level," says Mooney.
"I guess it's the same with rugby in New Zealand. For a country with such a small population, they are regularly at the top table challenging for honours, or being number one side in the world. Again, it's in the DNA there, youngsters starting out hope the black jersey is something achievable.
"I guess it's a cultural phenoneman, but we can look to mirror that. There’s a huge demand for football in Wales, we can feel it everywhere, from supporters, companies, partners. The atmosphere when we beat Ukraine to qualify was like nothing I've seen or heard before, and I've done a few Champions League finals and big internationals in my time. It was unbelievable. We had guests from UEFA with us in the directors' box at Cardiff City Stadium and even they were commenting on how special it was.
"But for me it's beyond just a game of football. Look at my own Irish background and Gaelic football over there. It goes deeper than the sport, it's about celebrating culture, language, your community. I regard us as a movement, not just a Federation, but we need to articulate what we want, make our game even better, put in conditions that enable us to be at the very top table of world football on a regular basis."
So, where to begin with that? Mooney's dream is for every youngster - and indeed grown-up - in Wales to have the chance to play football. That's where the interest first starts.
But he feels there is a 'chasm' between grassroots facilities in Wales, compared to other European countries, and it is the biggest priority he feels a need to address.
"We're well off the pace and we have to do something about it," he says. "One of the first things I picked up on was the third-world grassroots facilities we have across the country, which I was shocked at.
"We have actually spent 3.2million in the last four weeks on 48 different projects, people talk about the money we'll get from the World Cup. But these figures are a drop in the ocean. We need £300million to build pitches and give appropriate dressing rooms, training space and other facilities to our 953 clubs.
"To that end we've begun discussions with the Welsh Government and the 22 unitary authorities to start to address it. We'll enjoy the World Cup, it's the shop window, a huge shot in the arm for the FAW, the country, the fans. But that said, we have a far bigger project at hand, if I'm brutally honest.
"So we are asking the Welsh Government 'Are you on the journey with us?' Everyone at the FAW is fully on board, we're 100 per cent committed to this project, but it's a question or how fast and how well. We definitely need help on this.
"My vision is for everyone in Wales to at least have the opportunity to play football in the right environment. We expect an explosion of girls wanting to participate after the women's Euros this summer, but we're not ready for that in Wales. We know they want to play, but can't because we don't have the appropriate facilities here.
"I grew up in Ireland, their facilities are way ahead. There is no reason why they should be, but they are. In Switzerland, where I worked for UEFA, they're light years ahead, which you might kind of expect. But the vast majority of countries in Europe are also ahead and we have to close the gap. I really hope the Welsh Government would want to help us achieve that, not go backwards.
"We'll work with schools, every village needs to have an appropriate club, we'll encourage everybody as we want to give them the chance to be the new Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Jess Fishlock or whoever."
Rugby, of course, has historically been a pillar of communities in Wales, with social events at the local clubhouse and everything geared towards match-day on a Saturday afternoon in many towns and villages. Not to mention Six Nations Saturday in Cardiff when hordes descend upon, or eyes are totally focussed on, events in the Welsh capital.
But Mooney wants grassroots football clubs to be even more than that. He advocates them joining a UEFA Wellness Movement, explaining: "They can become community hubs where people can have support and help if necessary. It creates better minds, bodies and souls.
"This is what the Nordic countries do, it's about way more than just 11 versus 11 for them, it's about being at the centre of the community. A massive opportunity to improve the country through this global phenomena called football.
"We know how important rugby clubs are in Wales, they're much more developed in terms of hosting a 21st birthday party, engagement party or function at the local clubhouse. Those are revenue generators, which are great, but we want to broaden it beyond that in Welsh football as part of the Wellness Movement.
"This is why it's so important. We're looking to open ourselves up to be more societal, not just about football. We need funding, hence the partnership with the Welsh Government is so important. We're also speaking to private capital, even to companies in the Middle East. They could get coaching education in return, because we have a world class system in place for that."
Impressive plans. But the vision goes further. After grassroots, it's the domestic game that Mooney wishes to tackle, most notably the Cymru Premier League and its main feeder divisions.
The Welsh Premier has often come in for criticism and even 30 years after inception it has yet to tap into the psyche of the Welsh population at large.
Again, Mooney hopes to make changes for the better.
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"Let's be honest, a lot of our most talented players when very young go to English clubs, or Welsh clubs playing in the English system, and that clearly pays huge dividends," says Mooney. "We know, because of the geography, a player of good ability will sign for a team in the English League.
"But can we re-categorise our Academies to ensure those who develop at other stages are spotted and picked up? Seamus Coleman, for example, was playing for Sligo Rovers at 21, before going on to captain Everton and Ireland. Kieffer Moore wasn't with a leading club until well into his twenties.
"At the moment, at domestic level, we're not producing players of international quality and we're exploring how we can change that.
"The Cymru Premier, and the leagues just below, need a lot of love, if I'm honest. It needs to be the best it can be, I'd like to improve our co-efficient ranking in Europe because getting to the group stages of the Europa League, Conference or even Champions League would generate so much money. FC Tallin, of Estonia, managed that this season and it brings in multi-millions. If they can do it, why can't we aim to?
"It would be such a huge fillip to our league if our clubs could manage that, raise standards, mean more full-time professionals. I'm not saying it's game-changing for the national team, but it's part of the sustainability moving forward and offers a different pathway for some players."
That's for the future. What about the present and how Wales will fare at the World Cup, where they come up against USA, Iran and England in Group B?
"It's a qualifiable group, although I'd hope we are in a situation whereby by the time the England game comes around we have done enough to get through," says Mooney excitedly.
"The USA are improving. It's a cliche, but the saying of no easy games at international level is even more true today. They'll be very tough opponents, but we hope to win it.
"Then it's Iran, an unknown quantity to me although our technical team will be having a good look at them. They're not a super power, again we have to be hopeful.
"England? We know the talent they've got. But if we can progress, build on what these players have already achieved so brilliantly at previous Euros, that will keep the buzz and feelgood factor going. Whatever, we have to be optimistic about the future of Welsh football, albeit tough decisions will need to be made.
"We're a football movement and we want people to be on the journey with us."
There was a time when the image of the FAW, fairly or unfairly, was one of the slow machinery of 28-blazers on the ruling council taking an age to make any decision, let alone actually get anything done. These days it's a far slicker outfit, but there is clearly still lots to do, World Cup or no World Cup.
If Mooney has his way, the future does indeed look very rosy, or should that be red, for Welsh sport.
