The Socceroos have broken into the world's top 30 teams for the first time in the latest FIFA rankings while reigning FIFA World Champion Italy moves into fourth position.

Australia on Wednesday climbed nine places to be 28th in the world, their highest-ever FIFA ranking, following the 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over Bahrain in Manama last month.

Pim Verbeek's side continues to head up the Asian confederation ahead of Japan, who are up three spots to No.35.

The Socceroos played 13 matches in 2008, managing eight wins, three draws and two losses.

Their best performances included two big wins over Qatar, a shock 2-1 friendly win over the Netherlands in September and gutsy away wins over Iraq and Uzbekistan.

Australia next face Indonesia in a friendly on January 28, ahead of February 11's qualifying match against Japan, where a win would almost assure 2010 World Cup qualification.

European champions Spain ended the year as the world's No.1 ranked nation after winning all 16 of their matches in 2008.

Germany, beaten finalists at Euro 2000, are still No.2 while the Netherlands rose to No.3, trading places with fourth-placed world champions Italy.

South American rivals Brazil and Argentina followed in fifth and sixth while England continued their revival under coach Fabio Capello, moving up two places to No.8.

The biggest movers of the month included Bolivia (up 13 to No.58), Jamaica (up 18 to No.65) and Kenya (up 17 to No.68).

New Zealand suffered the biggest drop, falling 26 places to No.86.

AAP