The European quartet join already-qualified England, Spain and the Netherlands, leaving two automatic berths from the continent still up for grabs heading into Wednesday´s last throw of the South Africa dice.
Russia, beaten 1-0 by ten-man Germany in Moscow, and the Republic of Ireland, who drew Italy, are among the teams assured of places in November´s two-leg play-offs.
France, beaten on penalties in the 2006 final by Italy, are also in the play-offs after routing part-timers the Faroe Islands 5-0 to book second place in Group Seven behind Serbia, who trounced Romania by the same scoreline.
The Irish came desperately close to pulling off a major upset in Dublin as Sean St Ledger headed them into a 2-1 lead with only three minutes to go, only for Alberto Gilardino to level on the whistle.
That put the world champions into an unassailable lead in Group Eight with Ireland as runners-up.
Earlier, three-time world champions Germany ensured their participation in next year´s World Cup with a game to spare after a gritty defeat of Guus Hiddink´s Russia.
Miroslav Klose´s first-half goal booked Germany´s ticket with Joachim Loew´s team reduced to ten men when Jerome Boateng was sent packing after receiving a second yellow card with 20 minutes remaining.
The win gave secured top spot for Germany in Group Four ahead of their final qualifier against Finland in Hamburg.
Denmark got the better of neighbours Sweden 1-0 to book their ticket as winners of Group One while Portugal moved into second and a shot at making the play-offs with a 3-0 win over Hungary.
Already-qualified England´s run of eight straight qualifying wins came to a sticky end in Dnipropetrovsk with Serhiy Nazarenko earning Ukraine a 1-0 win.
Fabio Capello´s Group Six winners were reduced to ten men in the first quarter of an hour when goalkeeper Robert Green was sent off for a professional foul following a mistake by Rio Ferdinand.
Aaron Lennon made way for replacement shot-stopper David James whose first job was to prevent Andriy Shevchenko converting the spotkick - but he didn´t have to work too hard as Shevchenko fluffed his lines, hitting the post.
Spain, who had already guaranteed their place in South Africa as winners of Group Five, came through their trip to Armenia with a 2-1 win to extend their unbeaten run to nine from nine qualifiers.
Bosnia-Herzegovina secured a play-off berth with a 2-0 win in Estonia to make sure of their position as runners-up to the Euro 2008 champions.
In other action, Switzerland boosted their prospects of making it to the finals with a 3-0 defeat of Luxembourg.
Ottmar Hitzfeld´s side are in pole position to qualify as Group Two winners, going into Wednesday three points clear of former European champions Greece.
Group Three is too close to call with Slovakia on 19 points, two ahead of Slovenia, with the same gap back to the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile in South America, the penultimate night of South American qualifying matches for next year´s global football showdown saw Argentina avoid a shocking upset in stoppage time while Chile made an impressive qualifying run pay off on two second-half goals to beat Colombia 4-2.
Martin Palmero, recalled to the national side by Maradona after a decade´s absence and inserted at the start of the second half, tapped in a goal in the second minute of stoppage time after Peru had equalized in the 90th minute.
"The victory gives us new life," Maradona said. "It was a very dramatic finish. Now we go to Uruguay to play for a place in the World Cup."
After being booed off the field following a goal-less first half and looking undone, Argentina has a one-point edge over Uruguay heading into their showdown for the last automatic World Cup spot from South America.
Gonzalo Higuain took a pass from Pablo Aimar and scored from an angle in the 48th minute to give Argentina a 1-0 lead.
But Peru, a side with two wins in 17 final-round qualifying matches, stunned the hosts in the 90th minute when Hernan Rengifo headed home an equalizer in a driving wind and rain.
Much-crtiticized Maradona, the retired star player whose rocky tenure as coach would be considered an epic failure if Argentina misses the World Cup, found salvation thanks to Palmero.
Argentina improved to 7-6 with four drawn in qualifying for 25 points entering a showdown match next Wednesday at Uruguay, which won 2-1 at Ecuador to remain on Argentina´s heels at 6-5 with six drawn and 24 points.
Whichever side wins will book the last automatic spot in the World Cup finals, joining Brazil, Paraguay and Chile.
The loser would need help to hold off Ecuador for fifth place, which would book a berth against North America´s fourth-place finisher to decide a berth in South Africa.
Should Argentina and Uruguay draw, Argentina would have the edge for the last automatic spot while Ecuador would need to rout Chile to overcome a goal-difference edge for Argentina and nudge them out of fourth.
Host Colombia opened the scoring when Chile´s Arturo Vidal put the ball in his own net, but Waldo Ponce answered for Chile in the 34th minute and Humberto Suazo added another in the next minute for a 2-1 Chilean halftime lead.
Giovanni Moreno pulled the hosts level in the 63rd minute but the Chileans, knowing a victory would book them a World Cup berth, grabbed the lead for good on Jorge Valdivia´s goal in the 70th minute.
Fabian Orellana added an insurance tally in the 78th minute and Chile joined Brazil and Paraguay as World Cup qualifying nations from South America.
Antonio Valencia put Ecuador up in the 68th minute but Luis Suarez answered for Uruguay in the next minute and Diego Forlan hit the winner on a penalty four minutes into stoppage time to give Uruguay the victory.
Paraguay edged Venezuela 2-1 to eliminate the hosts from any chance at an automatic spot. Salvador Cabanas scored in the 56th minute and Oscar Cardozo added a goal in the 80th minute for Paraguay. Alexander Rondon answered in the 86th for Venezuela, which most hope to reach South Africa by the playoff route.
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