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Wales' attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semi-final and potential final rivals.

After ended second in their qualification group thanks to a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter 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 striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"Many supporters were saying recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many people didn't. But personally, that would be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be challenging.

"However you just feel that we'll take anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualification run, with their only losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their first 3 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 the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second spot in Group F in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.

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