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

Having ended second in their qualification pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

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

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

"A lot of fans were asking last night, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be challenging.

"But the sense is that we'll take anyone right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a strong qualification campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points more than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second place in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.