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Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final challengers.

Having ended second in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a tie against whichever opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'do we actually want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think many people didn't. But personally, that would be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so it will be challenging.

"But you just feel that we'll take anyone right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Reviewed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their only 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 Albanian squad's more notable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with Wales, losing 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.