Rio de Janeiro - XINHUA
Brazil have slumped to 14th in the latest FIFA world rankings released on Wednesday.
The five-time World Cup winners slipped two places following a dearth of recent competitive matches to occupy their worst ranking since the system was introduced in 1993.
Portugal rose to third, their highest ever position, while world champion Spain and Germany are first and second respectively.
Colombia returned to the top 10 for the first time in a decade following convincing World Cup qualifying victories over Uruguay and Chile last month.
Led by in-form striker Radamel Falcao, Colombia jumped 16 places to ninth.
Argentina is the highest ranked South American team in fourth place while England is fifth.
FIFA world rankings (October 2012)
1 Spain - 1611 points
2 Germany - 1459
3 Portugal - 1259
4 Argentina - 1208
5 England - 1196
6 The Netherlands - 1141
7 Uruguay - 1140
8 Italy - 1106
9 Colombia - 1102
10 Greece - 1029