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Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final challengers.

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

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a tie against whichever team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were asking recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be amazing.

"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so they'll be tough.

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

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualification campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.

Notably, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game qualifiers three points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a points more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his nation's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging 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.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.