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Wales' attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they await learning their semifinal and possible final challengers.

After finished second in their qualification group thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever team after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of fans were wondering recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But for me, that could be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be tough.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales are placed 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than Wales managed in their eight games, but still finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their first 3 matches, 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 bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing three of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.