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Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final challengers.

After ended second in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will relish a tie against whichever team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so they'll be challenging.

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

Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualifying run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the knockout stages on both occasions.

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

The Switzerland finished the six-match campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

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

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points 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 spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged 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 final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second place in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with Wales, losing three of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.