DAVE Rowe will live the Euro 2016 dream with thousands of Wales football fans in France next month - but he will be closer to the action than most.

Almost 20 years after first taking to the Wales team dugout, the Sport Wales sports medicine practitioner will be part of the Football Association of Wales (FAW) backroom staff at the European Championships.

Mr Rowe, who lives in Newport, is part of the Sport Wales Institute based at the National Centre in Sophia Gardens, in Cardiff, treating Welsh elite athletes aiming for Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games success.

But the senior soft tissue therapist's most immediate task is to help keep Wales' footballers free of injury as they embark on their first major tournament since 1958.

“It’s been a long road. I joined the FAW in February 1997 so there’s been 20 years of heartaches, some joys and plenty of ups and downs, but recently a great time," said Mr Rowe.

“Although my full-time role is treating elite athletes at Sport Wales, the Institute team regularly works with different sports and on projects at major competitions.

“My first game working with the FAW was against the Republic of Ireland in the old National Stadium in Cardiff. It was a dour, wet encounter which ended 1-1. Bobby Gould was the manager then and we had players such as Chris Coleman, Gary Speed, Mark Hughes, Robbie Savage, Neville Southall, and Vinnie Jones.

“I’ve worked with some fantastic people and travelled across Europe, but the European Championships will be the pinnacle.”