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Leading nations to miss out on a top seeding include Spain, England and Uruguay.
Spain and Peru, who will go into a play-off against New Zealand for a place in Russia, both climb into the top 10 in the latest rankings.
Russia though slipped one place to 65th in the rankings, further diminishing expectations of their chances on home soil next year.
And sharing ranking number 206 for the worst football nations on earth are Tonga, Somalia, Gibraltar and Eritrea, Anguila and the Bahamas.
Biggest winner in terms of ranking is Turkmenistan, that jumped 22 places to become the worlds' 114th strongest football nation.
Biggest loser by far is Equador, that found itself on position 60, 25 points lower than last month.