This is Bellamy’s first role as a head coach in professional football. He previously worked as an assistant to current Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht and Burnley.

Bellamy had already lost the Wales job to Ryan Giggs in 2018, but impressed Mooney and FAW football chief Dave Adams in the search for a successor to Rob Page, who was sacked in June.

Page paid the price for failing to qualify for Euro 2024. While Wales’ performances and results in the upcoming Nations League will be closely scrutinised, Mooney says the final verdict on Bellamy’s reign will be reserved for qualification for a major tournament.

“We want to qualify for the World Championships in America, Canada and Mexico and we felt that Craig was the right choice for that,” added the FAW boss.

“I know he had applied for the job before and it was probably a good thing he didn’t get it then because he went out into the world, went to Anderlecht and developed a lot of very good young players there. Anderlecht is a top European club when it comes to developing young talent.

“He worked under Vincent Kompany and then got the chance to go to Burnley and get promoted to the Premier League. He has really developed. I think it’s a really exciting appointment.

“We see the Nations League as an opportunity for Craig to contribute his ideas, although we would of course like to get some results in this Nations League. Ultimately, however, this is about qualifying for the tournament. That’s what it’s all about.”

Wales had qualified for two consecutive European Championships before missing out on this year’s edition in Germany.

However, the pressure on Page had already increased before, probably since the 2022 World Cup.

Page was the first man since 1958 to lead Wales to a World Cup. But the team put in a miserable performance in Qatar and were eliminated in the first round.

Should Wales qualify for the next World Cup in 2026 – and then for the 2028 European Championship, where Wales will be one of the host nations alongside the United Kingdom and Ireland – Mooney hopes the team will perform better than they did two years ago.

“We want to be in America, Canada and Mexico in 2026 and when we host the European Championships here in 2028 we want to have a brilliant team to go out there and represent Wales really well,” he said.

“We want to make sure we get into the tournaments and do really well there and in the other parts as well.

“It’s nice to be part of a tournament, but once you’re there, it’s all about how you present yourself and how you perform in those tournaments.”