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Wales' attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final challengers.

After ended second in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many fans were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be incredible.

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

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs 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 third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic style.

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

Ireland are without a win in their past four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.