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Wales' attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semi-final and possible final rivals.

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

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a tie against whichever team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think many people were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be difficult.

"But the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Rivals Assessed

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualification run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi 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 forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with the Welsh, losing three of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.