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Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final opponents.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will relish a match against whichever opponent after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of fans were asking recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think many people didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so it will be challenging.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Rivals Assessed

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania had a impressive qualification campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the last 16 on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, 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-game campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

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

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four matches but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken 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 scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with Wales, losing 3 of these, though James McClean shattered 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.