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Wales' sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semifinal and possible final challengers.

Having finished second in their qualifying group following a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a match against any opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many people were asking recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that could be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so they'll be difficult.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

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

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

Importantly, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than Wales managed in their eight games, but still ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

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

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.

Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with Wales, losing three of these, though James McClean broke 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.