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Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final challengers.

Having ended second in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against any team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But personally, that could be incredible.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so they'll be challenging.

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

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Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualifying run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K 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 among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

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

The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with Wales, losing three of those, though 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.