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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 opponents.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many fans were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualifying campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but experienced a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second place in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

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