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Wales' attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final rivals.

After finished second in their qualification group following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will relish a tie against whichever opponent following 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.

"A lot of people were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be tough.

"But you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.

Albania had a impressive qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished two points adrift 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 pair tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

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

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

Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with Wales, defeated in three of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.