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

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

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think many people were hesitant. But for me, that could be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be tough.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semifinal Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualifying run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

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 Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

The 39-year-old 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 first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.