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Wales' sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and possible final rivals.

After ended as runners-up in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final match on home soil.

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

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

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

"Many people were asking recently, 'should we really want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.

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

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

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

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

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

Notably, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a points additional than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 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 equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening 3 matches, 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 the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing three of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.