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Wales' attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final challengers.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

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

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many people were saying recently, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

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

The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

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

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.