On the back of recent draws in World Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Japan, the Socceroos have climbed to their highest position since 2012.

They gained 20 points since the September rankings, taking them to 663 and putting them ahead of the likes of Ghana, Korea, Serbia and Greece.

While still a long way off their all-time highest position of 14th in 2009, Ange Postecoglou’s team have made giant strides since bottoming out two years ago at No.102.

The Socceroos are the second-highest ranked team in Asia, behind Iran (27th).

Argentina maintained top spot with World Cup champions Germany moving into second from third.

Olympic champions Brazil jumped into third with Belgium and Colombia slipping to fourth and fifth respectively.

-AAP