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The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever opponent after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be tough.

"However you just feel that we'll take anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

Albania had a impressive qualifying run, with their only losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still ended 2 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 tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second place in Group F in dramatic fashion.

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

Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with Wales, defeated in three of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.