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Wales' sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.

After finished second in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a tie against any opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many fans were saying recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so they'll be challenging.

"But the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed

Wales sit 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualifying campaign, with their sole defeats suffered 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 part of the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and earned a point more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his country's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's key player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive 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 arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned 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 made the starting jersey his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with Wales, losing three of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.