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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 second in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on home soil.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of fans were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think many supporters didn't. But for me, that could be amazing.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so they'll be challenging.

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

Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

Wales are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualification run, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a points additional than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but still ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

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

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with Wales, defeated in three of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.