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Wales' focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a match against any team after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of supporters were wondering recently, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But for me, that could be amazing.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so it will be tough.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

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

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

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still finished two points adrift 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 meant the teams tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but experienced a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in Group F in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.

Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with Wales, losing 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.