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Wales' attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying group following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever team after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of supporters were saying last night, 'do we actually want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think many people didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so it will be challenging.

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

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualification run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with both not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a point additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

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

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

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

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.