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Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final opponents.

After ended as runners-up in their qualification pool following a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

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

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

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view many people didn't. But personally, that could be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so they'll be difficult.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both not managing 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 ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a points additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.