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Wales' sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final challengers.

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

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a match against whichever team after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many people were saying recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we'll take anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

Wales sit 34th in the world standings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

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

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

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-match campaign three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes 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 qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification 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 star player.

The veteran was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in their group in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.