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Wales' attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final challengers.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many fans were asking last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be incredible.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so it will be tough.

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

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

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

Albania had a strong qualifying campaign, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification 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 defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with Wales, losing 3 of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.