Pim Verbeek's men enjoyed an unbeaten trio of World Cup qualifiers last month and their form has seen them rewarded.

It is the highest Australia has ever been placed in FIFA's international ratings system which ranks 203 member nations of FIFA.   

"We are delighted at this new. Rankings are not the 'be all and end all' of football but they are certainly an indicator of our progress.  

"The more competitive games we play, the greater the opportunity to improve our position in the world rankings and the more match hardened the team becomes.  

"This is a great reward for the Qantas Socceroos form in the qualifying rounds for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  

 "Once again, we congratulate Pim Verbeek and the players for their efforts," said Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley.

The Socceroos became the second team to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup (excluding the host nation) in early June, and finished the fourth stage of qualification with 6 wins and 2 draws against strong rivals Japan, Qatar, Bahrain and Uzbekistan.  

Buckley said he had recently returned from a brief trip to South Africa and said that it will be a "fantastic" tournament.  

"We can't speak highly enough of the facilities we visited, the people we met and the atmosphere generated by local supporters at the games," he said.

Thirty-two countries compete in the FIFA World Cup which will take place in South Africa from 11 June - 11 July next year.   Australia will know their opponents in the group stage at the final draw in Cape Town on 4 December.

Local rivals Japan slumped nine places to 40th position overall.

At the top, Brazil have finally toppled Spaintfor first place following their Confederations Cup triumph in South Africa.

The Selecao return to the summit for the first time since August 2007, bumping European champions Spain down to second and Holland to third.

World champions Italy remain in fourth while Germany slip two spots to fifth.

Russia climb three places to sixth, relegating England and Argentina to seventh and eighth respectively.

FIFA'S TOP 50 (c) FIFA

1 Brazil Brazil 1672 4 Up 384
2 Spain Spain 1590 -1 Down -171
3 Netherlands Netherlands 1379 -1 Down -63
4 Italy Italy 1229 0 Equal -63
5 Germany Germany 1207 -2 Down -171
6 Russia Russia 1161 3 Up -6
7 England England 1135 -1 Down -90
8 Argentina Argentina 1091 -1 Down -112
9 France France 1082 1 Up 15
10 Croatia Croatia 1031 -2 Down -169
11 Greece Greece 1001 6 Up 79
12 USA USA 983 2 Up 36
13 Switzerland Switzerland 930 3 Up -1
14 Serbia Serbia 925 6 Up 55
15 Denmark Denmark 909 9 Up 73
16 Australia Australia 886 13 Up 107
17 Portugal Portugal 879 -6 Down -125
18 Côte d'Ivoire Côte d'Ivoire 874 20 Up 129
19 Ukraine Ukraine 869 0 Equal -22
20 Uruguay Uruguay 860 -3 Down -62
21 Czech Republic Czech Republic 850 -6 Down -93
22 Paraguay Paraguay 846 -9 Down -115
23 Bulgaria Bulgaria 839 0 Equal 1
24 Scotland Scotland 837 -2 Down -3
25 Israel Israel 822 0 Equal -5
26 Romania Romania 814 2 Up 24
27 Chile Chile 811 10 Up 65
28 Turkey Turkey 809 -16 Down -155
29 Cameroon Cameroon 803 -8 Down -52
30 Costa Rica Costa Rica 789 11 Up 95
30 Gabon Gabon 789 18 Up 173
32 Northern Ireland Northern Ireland 784 -5 Down -36
33 Mexico Mexico 777 -7 Down -45
34 Nigeria Nigeria 773 -4 Down 3
35 Ghana Ghana 772 1 Up 22
36 Ecuador Ecuador 760 8 Up 74
37 Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland 758 -3 Down -4
38 Egypt Egypt 754 2 Up 35
39 Honduras Honduras 753 -4 Down -8
40 Japan Japan 722 -9 Down -44
41 Poland Poland 706 -2 Down -16
42 Sweden Sweden 702 -11 Down -64
43 Slovakia Slovakia 687 -1 Down -6
44 Hungary Hungary 681 -1 Down -6
45 Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia-Herzegovina 680 -12 Down -83
46 Colombia Colombia 675 -1 Down -3
47 Algeria Algeria 661 19 Up 171
48 Korea Republic Korea Republic 634 -2 Down -20
49 Tunisia Tunisia 614 2 Up 17
50 Norway Norway 606 -3 Down -32