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Wales' attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final rivals.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a match against whichever team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of people were asking recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so it will be tough.

"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."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania had a impressive qualifying run, with their only defeats suffered 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 ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points more than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but still finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.