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Wales' attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final opponents.

Having ended second in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a tie against whichever team after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But for me, that could be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be challenging.

"But you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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Wales sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

Albania enjoyed a strong qualifying campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.

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

It is worth noting, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the group winners.

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

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted the two 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 take runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

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

Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with the Welsh, losing three of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.