Carla Ward’s side take on Poland in early December for a place at next summer’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil

The latest FIFA world rankings are out and Ireland remain unchanged at 21st after a pair of comfortable wins over Kazakhstan.

The Girls in Green scored 12 goals over two legs to progress to the World Cup play-off decider, where they will take on Poland for a place at next summer’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

Despite those results, Carla Ward's side haven’t climbed further up the rankings and remain in 21st place. Bizarrely, Kazakhstan have moved up one place to 99th.

Only 11 other European countries are ahead of them, including Belgium, who have dropped two spots to 20th.

Belgium lost out to Poland in their play-off first round tie - with the Poles emerging victorious on penalties in Gdansk last week.

Their success should serve as a warning for Katie McCabe and co, who are narrow favourites heading into the play-off finals.

Poland were 11 places behind Belgium in the FIFA rankings heading into their two games, yet they prevailed. They are just eight places behind Ireland, as their results, an away defeat and a home win, left them in 29th.

The two sides met earlier this year in the World Cup qualifiers, with Ward’s side winning 3-2 away and 1-0 at the Aviva Stadium.

Similar outcomes in Gdansk on December 1 and in Dublin on December 5 would book Ireland’s ticket to back-to-back World Cups.

The Poles are bidding for their first ever World Cup qualification. They are a nation on the rise in women’s football, having qualified for the 2025 European Championships, their first ever appearance at a major tournament.

In the past year they have achieved some impressive results, including a 5-2 friendly win away to Wales, a 2-2 draw in the World Cup qualifiers against the Netherlands and the 3-2 win at home to Belgium that took their play-off tie to penalties.

As for the headline makers in the latest FIFA rankings, Spain remain on top, ahead of the rest of the top-five - USA, Germany, England and Japan.