Australian have fallen outside the world top 50 for the first time in two years as Argentina moved to top of FIFA's soccer rankings.

Australia, who have not played any matches this month, dropped four spots to 52 in the October list, their worst ranking since sitting 54th in October 2005 - just before their World Cup playoff triumph over Uruguay.

After reaching No.33 in July 2006 following their World Cup success, Australia have dropped steadily to now be the equal fourth best team in the Asian Confederation - behind Japan (30), Iran (38), South Korea (46) and tied with Saudi Arabia (52).

Meanwhile, World Cup champions Italy fell two places to third, while Brazil leapfrogged them into second place behind Argentina, who moved up one spot to be No.1 on the list.

Beaten finalists in Germany last year, France jumped two spots to move up to fourth place while the Germans drop one place to fifth.

But the big losers in October were England, who fell to 11th place after their recent poor showings in Euro-2008 qualifiers.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP