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Wales' attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final opponents.

After ended second in their qualifying group thanks to a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many supporters were asking last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think many people didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be challenging.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualification run, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia lost only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.

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