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Wales' attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final rivals.

Having finished second in their qualification pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against any team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many fans were saying last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.

"So it's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be difficult.

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

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualifying run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad 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 faced Wales.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a point more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

The Welsh have not managed 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 the defeat.

As his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's key player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.