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

Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will embrace a tie against whichever opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of people were wondering last night, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.

"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anybody right now and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

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The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

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

The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his nation's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted both 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 surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.

Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.