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Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final opponents.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying group thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a match against whichever opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"Many supporters were wondering last night, 'should we really want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so it will be difficult.

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

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualifying run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-match qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their opening 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in three of these, although 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.