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Wales' attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final challengers.

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

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will welcome a tie against whichever team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of supporters were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that could be incredible.

"It's one of those, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be challenging.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a solid qualification run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, Albania 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 both occasions.

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

The Swiss ended the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and earned a point more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 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 equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.