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

Having finished second in their qualification group thanks to a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final 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 relish a match against whichever opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were asking recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view many people didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"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.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualification run, with their sole defeats 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 Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

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

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-match qualifiers three points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.