WIMBLEDON under way, a Welshman in yellow at the Tour de France, the first Test starting at Lord’s on Thursday and a Lions decider to come on Saturday – it’s a great week for sport-lovers.

But for those for whom football is all-consuming, this is a dark and difficult time.

Saturday afternoons are spent at the beach or B&Q rather than on the terraces.

Match of the Day has made way for overblown superhero movies and a Super Sunday involves nothing more exciting than mowing the lawn.

The Confederations Cup final between Germany and Chile officially marked the end of the 2016-2017 season.

And, while the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and Europa League are already under way and pre-season friendlies are just around the corner, the 2017-2018 campaign doesn’t really get going for another five weeks.

So how are football obsessives to fill the void? This week’s DVD release of Don’t Take Me Home – the story of Wales’ remarkable run to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 – might provide the answer.

Saturday marked one year since that incredible quarter-final victory over Belgium in Lille and shame on you if you didn’t celebrate Hal Robson-Kanu Day!

And this Thursday it will be 12 months on from the night Cristiano Ronaldo put an end to the fairy tale in the semi-final in Lyon.

Anyone who was lucky enough to be in France last summer will know how difficult it is to move on from that magical experience.

And Jonny Owen’s documentary, released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, is a magnificent memento of a sublime summer.

It will provide a much-needed football fix for those unmoved by Andy Murray’s injury worries, the legality of Team Sky’s jerseys or the penalty count at Eden Park.

And, as Chris Coleman’s men continue to find the road to Russia bumpier than they would like, the film serves as a reminder of just how good this team were and could be again.

Whether they can make up the ground to qualify for next year’s World Cup is another question.

After five successive draws only wins will do from now on for Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and the rest of the Euro 2016 heroes.

Next up at the Cardiff City Stadium in September are Austria, followed by trips to Moldova and Georgia before a final home clash with the Republic of Ireland on October 9.

Four wins out of four is a tall order but by no means impossible when you evaluate Wales’ strengths against the merits of their opponents.

If they can harness the spirit of 2016 then it still doable.

If, as seems likely, they fall just short it should not diminish what they achieved last summer.

In fact, it will only highlight what an incredible feat it was as Wales became the smallest nation by population ever to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup or European Championships.

Coleman and his players have already secured their place in history and the future of Welsh football also looks very positive.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) has committed to investing its profit from Euro 2016 – about £4m – in infrastructure projects to benefit grassroots football across the country.

And, though there are concerns about the level of public funding, the FAW Trust reports that the number of registered young players in Wales has increased over the past year with 900 more boys playing the game and 1,100 more girls.

Coleman is keen to give youth a chance, involving the likes of Joe Walsh, Tom Lockyer, Gethin Jones, Ben Woodburn, Marley Watkins, Newport’s Lee Evans and 16-year-old Ethan Ampadu in the recent training camp in Portugal.

Former Newport County AFC defender Regan Poole and his fellow under-20s acquitted themselves well in Wales’ first appearance in the prestigious Toulon Tournament too.

But Ampadu’s move from League Two Exeter City to Chelsea, which was announced at the weekend, was something of a disappointment.

Like Poole at Manchester United, he will benefit from working with some of the best coaches in the world and have access to state-of-the-art facilities.

But youngsters, however talented, have a habit of going missing in the Premier League champions’ mammoth squad.

The fear is that the teenage prodigy will struggle to get anywhere near Chelsea’s first team and be farmed out on loan to a succession of clubs before returning to the lower echelons of English football with very little experience of senior football.

Hopefully he can buck the trend and become the new John Terry, at least in terms of his on-pitch prowess.

And, if he needs any inspiration, Ampadu need only listen back to Coleman’s post-match TV interview in Lille 12 months ago.

“Don’t be afraid to have dreams,” Coleman told the BBC’s Dan Walker as his players’ partied with the Red Wall.

“Four years ago I was as far away from this as you can imagine. And look what’s happened.

“If you work hard enough and you’re not afraid to dream, and you’re not afraid to fail [anything is possible].”