Wales ended 2025 with a flourish as they responded to a run of three successive defeats by beating both Liechtenstein and North Macedonia in their final two fixtures of the calendar year.
The focus now lies firmly on the March play-offs, with Craig Bellamy's men facing Bosnia and Herzegovina at Cardiff City Stadium in the semi-finals on March 26.
Win that tie and Wales will host either Italy or Northern Ireland in the final five days later, with the prize for the winner being a place at next summer's World Cup in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico.
But what of their first full year under Bellamy?
Wales played 10 matches in 2025, winning five, drawing one and losing four of those games.
All four losses came to sides higher up in the Fifa rankings, with the only two competitive defeats both coming against Belgium in World Cup qualifying.
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Bellamy used a total of 32 different players during the course of the calendar year, with five of those (Dylan Lawlor, Ronan Kpakio, Kai Andrews, Joel Colwill and Isaak Davies) being handed their senior international debuts.
Sorba Thomas, Brennan Johnson, David Brooks and Karl Darlow were the only men to feature in all eight of Wales' World Cup qualifiers, but Bournemouth ace Brooks was the only player to feature in all 10 of his country's matches in 2025.
It typifies just how impressively the 28-year-old has performed after numerous injury troubles during the course of his career combined with the devastating cancer diagnosis that set him back so cruelly.
When available, Harry Wilson has been the standout performer of the Bellamy era so far, although Brooks has added consistency to his unquestionable quality to ensure he continues to be a real asset for his country.
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But with five goals for his nation in 2025, Wilson is the obvious main man of the year.
His sublime treble against North Macedonia in November was Wales' first hat-trick since the legendary Gareth Bale netted three against Belarus in 2021.
Wilson was also the first player other than Bale to score a hat-trick for Wales' senior side since Rob Earnshaw bagged three in a 4-0 friendly victory over Scotland in 2004.
While Wilson has been immense, there have been so many other key performers.
At the back, Neco Williams, Joe Rodon and Ben Davies continue to be stalwarts for Wales, with all three guaranteed of playing when fit.
The latter two have also provided a goal threat too, with captain Davies netting in a 3-1 triumph over Kazakhstan in March while Rodon followed up his first international goal against Liechtenstein in June with another in the 4-2 loss to Belgium in October.
Josh Sheehan and Liam Cullen have added depth to the midfield area where Ethan Ampadu and Jordan James - who bagged his first international goal to seal a 1-0 win over minnows Liechtenstein in November - continue to impress.
In attack, Brennan Johnson showed plenty of signs of improvement in 2025 and scored against both Belgium and North Macedonia in World Cup qualifying.
There was a real eye on the future too as Rubin Colwill, Rhys Norrington-Davies and Charlie Crew all won caps again - with all three feeling somewhat like second debuts.
So while they missed out on automatic qualification for the World Cup, there was plenty for the Red Wall and Bellamy to be pleased with in the head coach's first full year as boss, and his tenure could get even better in the coming months.
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