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Wales' attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final challengers.

After finished as runners-up in their qualification group following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a match against any opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of fans were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that would be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so they'll be tough.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualifying run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

The veteran was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken just one point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing three of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.