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Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await learning their semifinal and potential final rivals.

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

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a tie against any team after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of supporters were wondering recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think many supporters didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

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

"However the sense is that we'll take anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualification run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

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

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.