The Socceroos beat Nigeria 1-0 in London earlier this month just weeks after they narrowly lost 1-0 to world number one ranked Argentina.

The Socceroos dropped out of the top 50 last month after the effect of the dismal Asian Cup campaign kicked in.

But now - as the FFA search for a new coach - they have reclaimed their place in FIFA's elite ranks, up four places from last month's 52nd spot.

New Zealand come in at 95th - move up of 33 places - while Korea also rose four places to 42nd, Iraq dropped a spot to 70th place and Japan dropped three to 33rd.

Argentina are still in top spot, followed by Brazil, Italy, Spain move up to fourth and Germany stay fifth.

England have fallen to 12th place in FIFA's world ranking - meaning they miss out on being among the top seeds for the World Cup qualifying draw on Sunday.

The defeat by Croatia has led to England being leapfrogged by Greece and they are no longer among the top nine countries in Europe who will be in the pot of top seeds for the draw.

Scotland have also dropped one place to 14th, meaning they will also be among the group of second seeds.

England's fall in world ranking means that the first task of Steve McClaren's successor, that of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, is now much tougher.

The drop comes despite England gaining some ranking points from their victory over Austria last week - the fact it was a friendly means the points gained were far fewer than those won by Greece, who enjoyed two victories in European qualifying matches within the last week.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland have risen four places to 32nd in the world and have overtaken the Republic of Ireland, who drop to three places to 35th.

Wales' ranking remains unchanged in 58th spot.