Buoyed by a win and a draw against Syria in the World Cup play-offs, the Socceroos leapt over a series of countries, including Japan, to be the second highest ranked Asian Football Confederation (AFC) side.

Iran is the top ranked AFC side at 34th, with Australia (43rd), Japan (44th), South Korea (62nd) and Saudi Arabia (63rd) all next.

Australia have hovered around the high 40s and low 50s this year, with their previous best ranking being 44th back in January.

The Socceroos had reached as high as 40th last year, although that’s a far cry from the side’s best-ever ranking of 14th in 2009.

Australia’s next World Cup play-off opponents Honduras are currently 69th in the world.

The top six remains the same with Germany, Brazil and Portugal rounding out the top three, while Peru moved into the top 10 for the first time.

England are up three spots into 12th while Scotland were one of the best movers, leaping 14 spots to 29th in the world.