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

Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever opponent after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many people were saying last night, 'should we really want Ireland because of that derby feel?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But for me, that could be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, of course, they're a strong team so it will be challenging.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualifying campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single 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 former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

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

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

The Swiss finished the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat 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 historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a point additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling style.

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

Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.