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Wales' attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final rivals.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualification pool following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any team after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of fans were saying last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think a number of people didn't. But for me, that could be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be difficult.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Rivals Reviewed

Wales are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.

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

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

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

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and earned a points more than Wales managed in their 8 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 World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

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

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in thrilling style.

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

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.