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Wales' sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final rivals.

After finished as runners-up in their qualification pool following a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will relish a match against any team 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 anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of people were asking last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so it will be difficult.

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

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Assessed

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

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

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and earned a point additional than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

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

Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in thrilling style.

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

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters 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 crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.