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Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

After ended as runners-up in their qualification group following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will welcome a match against any 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 anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many fans were saying last night, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think many people didn't. But personally, that could be incredible.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be challenging.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualifying run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's more notable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

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

The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After taken just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of these, 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.