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Wales' attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final challengers.

After finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will welcome a match against any opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many supporters were saying last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so they'll be tough.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania had a solid qualification run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single 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 former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a points additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

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

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean broke 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.