Turkey suffered a heavy fall and was placed on the 39th spot of the latest world rankings published Friday by FIFA that determines the seeded European teams in playoffs to reach the World Cup.

The Turkish national football team failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and slipped 12 spots to be placed in its worst position in this decade. It should also be noted that after the rankings were announced after Euro 2008, Turkey was 10th in the rankings.

European champion Spain closed the gap on the Confederations Cup winner Brazil, which tops the rankings, but remained second, followed by the Netherlands. World champion Italy broke a tie in last month's rankings with Germany to stand alone as No. 4.

Argentina's victories after late goals against Peru and Uruguay in the past week helped it climb two places to No. 6, ahead of England.

Croatia rose one place to No. 8 even though it was eliminated from the World Cup after trailing England and Ukraine in its group.

The seeded teams for the playoffs that will decide the final four European nations going to next year's tournament in South Africa are France, Portugal, Russia and Greece.

They will be drawn against four non-seeded teams, led by No. 22 Ukraine, No. 34 Ireland, No. 42 Bosnia and No. 49 Slovenia.

The playoff draw will be made Monday at FIFA headquarters in Zurich. The home-and-away matches are scheduled Nov. 15 and 18