Joe Ledley misses Wales homecoming party to get married

It had been thought Ledley would cancel his wedding following Wales' incredible run to the semi-final of Euro 2016.

Ledley had been due to get married in Ibiza on Saturday and he confirmed after Wales' 2-0 semi-final defeat to Portugal that he is still heading to the Mediterranean island to tie the knot with partner Ruby May.

It means he will miss the big 'welcome home' party in Cardiff on Friday with thousands of fans expected to turn up and salute Chris Coleman's squad.

"The boys are going back to Wales to see the fans but I've got a wedding to attend," said Ledley.

"I don't feel I need to go back and see what we've achieved means to the supporters.

"I know deep down how much their support from back home meant to me.

Ledley's absence from the homecoming party will be a disappointment for supporters as he has become something of a cult hero.

The Crystal Palace midfielder's dance moves, which have been shown off in front of fans in France and also caught on camera in the dressing room, have gone viral on social media.

But Ledley is serious when it comes to football, saying: "We have created history as no other Welsh team has gone further than us, and it's going to be a good few years before another team beats that.

"Hopefully they do, but what we've achieved is history-making. We'll go down as legends, hopefully.

"But we deserved to be in the semi-final. We battered Belgium, who are second in the (FIFA) rankings, as we played them off the park.

"Portugal just wasn't our day, it wasn't meant to be in the end.

"They scored two poor goals - Ronaldo's shot was useless. Normally he hits them from there, but he scuffled the cross for a tap-in.

"With the header the guy can leap but apart from that he didn't really do anything in the game."

Wales seek to build on Euros success when they start their World Cup campaign at home to Moldova in September.

Austria, Georgia, the Republic of Ireland and Serbia are also in the group and the 29-year-old Ledley feels Wales are in a good place to qualify for Russia in 2018.

"This is the first competition we've been in for 50-odd years and we've enjoyed every minute of it," said Ledley.

"We were just one step away from where we wanted to be and we're looking at this as a stepping stone to Russia.

"The feeling is that this is the start of something rather than the end.

"I feel I'm getting a bit old and the World Cup will probably be one of the last competitions I'll play in.

"It'll be the same for some of the other players too, so we need to build on this and work as hard as we can going into the next qualifiers.

"We have had a taste of this and we want to keep going.

"We're a hungry bunch of players, we prove that week-in, week-out, and to be in the top four teams of the European Championship means a lot to us."