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Wales' focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

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

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a tie against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of people were saying last night, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that would be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so they'll be tough.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Assessed

Wales sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

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

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-game campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in dramatic style.

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

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in three of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.