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Wales' attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and possible final opponents.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against any team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of people were asking last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so it will be challenging.

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

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualification campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a point more than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot 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 won the pool.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in three of these, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.