Ryan Giggs won the UEFA Champions League twice and 13 English Premier League titles with Manchester United. Neville Southall is Wales's record appearance-maker, with 92 caps, while Liverpool legend Ian Rush scored 28 international goals. All are hugely important figures in Welsh football history, yet they were all unable to reach a major tournament with their country.

The Dragons' 2016 vintage managed not only to qualify for one, but to make waves once they were there. "We've gone down in history. No Welsh team before us had ever got to the semi-finals of a major international competition," Joe Ledley told FIFA.com just minutes after the defeat by Portugal in the last four of UEFA EURO 2016. Until this June, Wales had never featured in the European Championship and had taken part in a solitary FIFA World Cup™, in 1958, when they made it to the quarter-finals.

This young generation were in uncharted territory, therefore, but they were not overawed by the occasion. Led by Gareth Bale, they first topped Group B ahead of England, Slovakia and Russia. Then, in the Round of 16, they overcame Northern Ireland, a result that took on special meaning for Ledley and his team-mates. "We're proud of our country and of what we've achieved, of being the home nation to have got the furthest in the competition," said the midfielder in reference to England's exit at the hands of Iceland, which left the Welsh as the only team from the British Isles still standing.

Yet there was something even more remarkable still to come: a 3-1 quarter-final victory over Belgium that really captured the imagination. "To start with we never imagined being among the best four teams in Europe," the bearded Crystal Palace schemer said, before talking up the role of the squad's "desire" and describing the conviction that coursed through the squad en route to the semi-finals. "When we beat Belgium, we said to one another that anything was possible."

Seeds sown for a bright futureChris Coleman's side's Cinderella run was finally ended in the last four by Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, but this did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm generated by an achievement whose impact looks certain to be long-lasting. In the words of Arsenal star Aaron Ramsey, "We would like to have gone that one step further and got to the final but it wasn't to be. We can be proud of what we have achieved and build on it now for the future."

While Wales's heroic trailblazers have all shown themselves to be rightful heirs to – or even overshadowed – the likes of Giggs, Rush and Craig Bellamy, there is one figure who looms even larger in the background of their success story: former coach Gary Speed. As captain Ashley Williams told the press, "I hope he'd be proud of us with what we've achieved. He saw us grow up and he is always in the back of our minds. When we achieve things, we always think about him."

Before being found dead at his home in 2011, Speed it was who laid the foundations for the current exploits during a highly fruitful spell at the helm lasting almost a year. What better way could there have been to honour his memory than with such a stirring showing at a European Championship? "It's a very tough competition. Ending up in the top four means a lot to us," said Ledley, who – like all of his compatriots – is optimistic that this campaign will lead to more like it, rather than being a flash in the pan.

On this note, no sooner had they been knocked out of the EURO than the Dragons turned their attention to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ and a qualifying group in which they will face Austria, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Moldova and Georgia. Ledley made no secret of his ambitions – "We've got to draw on this EURO to build our future, work as hard as possible and envision ourselves qualifying for the next World Cup" – before wrapping up with a rallying cry: "We have to kick on. We've got super players – they've proved as much."