Europe
The nine group winners qualify for the finals. The eight best runners-up playoff for the other four places, the remaining runner-up will miss out altogether.
Netherlands became the first European country to qualify for World Cup 2010 after their 2-1 win in Iceland on the weekend.
They further cemented their place at the top of Group Nine by beating Norway 2-0, a result which kept the Norwegians rock bottom and helped Scotland stay second.
The Scots, who were not in action in the June qualifiers, remain favourites for second place despite being 14 points behind the Dutch.
Fabio Capello's England continue to impress, hitting 10 goals without reply in their two qualifiers this summer - 4-0 away in Kazakhstan and 6-0 against hapless Andorra at Wembley.
With nearest rivals Croatia and Ukraine cancelling each other out on the weekend, England's lead at the top of Group Six has been stretched to 10 points.
England, who are top scorers on the continent with 26 goals, can make sure of their place in the finals by beating the Croatians at Wembley in September.
In Group One, Denmark strengthened their position by beating rivals Sweden for the first time in 13 years.
The Danes won 1-0 and lead the table by three points from Hungary who were not in action.
Sweden and, surprisingly, Portugal are a further four points behind the Hungarians - and only because of victories over Malta (4-0) and Albania (2-1) respectively.
There were no matches in Group Two or Group Five. In Group Two, there is a two-way tussle at the top between Greece and Switzerland, both on 13 points.
Group Five is much more clearcut with European champions Spain enjoying a healthy six point lead over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Turkey are a further four points back and look unlikely to make it.
In Group Three, the only match was a routine 7-0 romp for group leaders Slovakia over San Marino who have now conceded 32 goals in their seven qualifiers.
Finland blew their chance of putting pressure on the leaders in Group Four when they lost 3-0 to Russia, having had to come from behind to beat Liechtenstein 2-1 last weekend.
Germany remain top on 16 points, Russia are on 15 points with Finland trailing on 10. A young Wales team gained a moral boosting 2-1 win in Baku against Azerbaijan to reach nine points.
In Group Seven, Serbia took advantage of the fixture list with France not playing to record two wins against Austria (1-0) and Faroe Islands (2-0).
The six points stretch the lead to eight over the French, who have two games in hand. Lithuania have done well to get above Austria and Romania into third but none of them is likely to threaten the top two.
In the big match in Group Eight, Republic of Ireland managed to get a point against Bulgaria in Sofia.
Richard Dunne gave the Irish the lead which they gave away almost immediately but then hung on to remain five points clear of the Bulgarians in second, though having played a game more.
World champions Italy remain top and, one point clear also with a game in hand over Ireland, the group remains theirs to lose.
Group leaders: Denmark, Greece, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy and Netherlands(Q).
Currently second: Hungary, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Republic of Ireland, Scotland.
South America
Top four teams qualify for the finals. Fifth-placed team enters a playoff with the fourth-placed North American team for a finals place.
Brazil took control of the marathon South American qualifying section with two wins in the last week.
First, they beat Uruguay 4-0 away and then followed it up by beating Paraguay 2-1 at home in what was a clash of the top two.
It was the end of a poor week for the Paraguayans who lost their earlier match 2-0 at home to Chile and drop to third.
The Chileans have had a fantastic time of it over the last few days and followed up that win with a 4-0 thrashing of Bolivia to replace Paraguay in second.
Argentina stay fourth after a home win - 1-0 against Colombia - and another away loss - 2-0 agianst Ecuador as their qualification hopes under Diego Maradona remain in the balance.
Ecuador shut the gap on the Argentines for the last automatic qualification place to two points with that 2-0 win and a 2-1 away victory over struggling Peru.
Uruguay endured a disappointing week and remain four points off Argentina.
The Uruguayans 4-0 loss to Brazil was followed by only a draw against much-improved Venezuela (2-2).
Shot-shy Colombia once again failed to score in their loss to Argentina and only managed one against Peru, though it was the only goal.
As well as the 2-2 draw against Uruguay, Venezuela managed a 1-0 win over Bolivia to resurrect hopes of making the playoffs.
But the Bolivians are well off the pace and Peru may suffer the embarrassment of failing to get into double figures in points from 18 matches.
Both Bolivia and Peru lost their two matches this week.
Standings (after 14 matches out of 18): Brazil 27, Chile 26, Paraguay 24, Argentina 22, Ecuador 20, Uruguay 18, Colombia 17, Venezuela 17, Bolivia 12, Peru 7
Asia
Group winners and runners-up qualify for the finals. Third-placed teams in each group playoff against each other to reach a playoff against New Zealand, the winner of which will qualify for the finals.
Japan became the first qualifier for World Cup 2010 and they were followed by Australia on the same day with both teams utterly dominating Group One.
The Japanese sealed their place in the finals with a 1-0 win over Uzbekistan in Tashkent and the Socceroos joined them a few hours later with a 0-0 draw in Qatar.
Qatar then got a credible 1-1 draw in Japan but it was not enough to prevent them from being knocked out.
Despite losing 2-0 to Australia, Bahrain remain favourites for third and a playoff spot. They will seal their playoff place if they avoid defeat against Uzbekistan next week.
Matters are much less straightforward in Group Two, although South Korea have qualified top after a 2-0 win over struggling United Arab Emirates at the weekend.
There are still three teams in with a shout for the second spot with only one match left. North Korea and Saudi Arabia are both on 11 points with Iran just one behind.
The North Koreans and the Saudis meet in Saudi Arabia next week in the last match. A draw will send North Korea to their first finals since 1966 as they have a better goal difference.
Iran must hope the match is a draw and beat South Korea at the same time.
With qualification in the balance, it was perhaps understandable that goals were at a premium in this week's matches.
North Korea drew 0-0 with Iran who beat the UAE 1-0. Saudi Arabia drew 0-0 with South Korea who had already qualified with that win in Dubai.
Group leaders: Australia(Q), South Korea(Q).
Current runners-up: Japan (Q), North Korea.
Current third place: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia
North America
Top three qualify for the finals. Fourth-placed team enters playoff with fifth-placed South American team for a place in the finals.
Costa Rica continue to dominate as the final group of the North American (CONCACAF) section reaches its halfway stage.
The Ticos beat United States 3-1 at home and then Trinidad & Tobago 3-2 away to reach 12 points from their five matches.
The Americans stay second, despite that loss to Costa Rica as they came from behind to beat Honduras 2-1 in Chicago three days later.
And despite this, Honduras stay in the final automatic qualification spot as they went on to beat El Salvador 1-0 at home.
Mexico's away woes continued in a 2-1 loss to El Salvador but they managed to beat Trinidad & Tobago by the same score in the Azteca to stay in touch in fourth.
El Salvador also remain in the hunt, two points behind Honduras, after a win and a loss.
Qualifiers in 2006, Trinidad & Tobago look unlikely to be making the trip this time after two losses left them adrift.
Standings (after five matches of 10): Costa Rica 12, United States 10, Honduras 7, Mexico 6, El Salvador 5, Trinidad & Tobago 2
Africa
The five group winners qualify for the finals.
After the first two matches (out of six), the chance of a shock in Group One is very much alive.
Underdogs Gabon lead the way with a maximum six points after a fine 3-0 win over Togo.
Togo are currently second having won their first match against seasoned qualifiers Cameroon.
The Cameroonians and Morocco prop up the group on one point apiece after their 0-0 draw in the latest matches.
In Group Two, Tunisia lead the way with six points out of six after a 2-0 win over Mozambique.
Nigeria, who could only manage a 0-0 draw with Mozambique in the opening match, recovered their form to beat Kenya 3-0. The Kenyans are bottom and yet to pick up a point.
In Group Three, Algeria and Zambia took the initiative by beating Rwanda and Egypt respectively.
After both the opening matches between the teams were drawn, Zambia beat Rwanda 1-0 and Algeria enjoyed a 3-1 home success to leave Egypt bottom.
The Black Stars of Ghana have so far dominated Group Four with two wins, beating Mali 2-0 on the weekend.
Benin provide their main opposition for now after they recorded their first points with a 1-0 win over Sudan.
Mali and Sudan have a point each after their opening day 1-1 draw in which former Spurs striker Freddie Kanoute scored.
Group Five has been dominated by Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso who both have two wins. Guinea and Malawi have yet to take a point or provide much opposition.
In this week's matches, Burkina Faso won 1-0 in Malawi and Ivory Coast won 2-1 against Guinea.
This was at least an improvement for the strugglers with Guinea beating Burkina Faso 4-2 and Ivory Coast thrashing Malawi 5-0 in the opening games.
Current leaders: Gabon, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast.
Standings and stats at http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/
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