Portugal climb to fifth in Fifa ranking with World Cup play-off victory

The Seleccao's win over Sweden sees them jump nine places, while Brazil join them in a return to the top 10 as England and Belgium slip out of it

Portugal's World Cup play-off triumph over Sweden has seen them rocket up nine places to fifth in the latest Fifa world ranking.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored four times over two legs to ensure that the Seleccao avoided missing out on next summer's tournament hosted in Brazil, who also climbed into the top 10 after dropping out in October.

Portugal and Brazil's rankings boost has caused Belgium (who lost to Colombia and Japan in November) to drop down from fifth to 11th and England (beaten by Chile and Germany at Wembley this month) from 10th to 13th.

Reigning world and European champions Spain remain unchallenged in first place, with Germany, Argentina and Colombia also holding steady in second, third and fourth respectively.

Uruguay's inter-continental World Cup play-off victory over Jordan has allowed them to stay sixth ahead of Italy, Switzerland and Netherlands.

Out of all the teams in the top 20, only Ukraine in 18th will not be present at World Cup 2014, with the group stage draw for the competition to be held on December 6.

The top-ranked African nation is Cote d'Ivoire (17th), USA are the number one Concacaf nation (14th) and AFC's highest entrant is Iran (45th).

Further down the rankings, Cuba were the biggest climbers (up to 47th from 74th) while Guyana suffered the biggest fall (down to 150th from 114th).