The Republic of Ireland will face either Iran or the United Arab Emirates in a play-off for a place in next summer's World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea.
The Iranians had an appeal to FIFA that Bahrain - who beat them 3-1 yesterday - had fielded ineligible players against them thrown out tonight, thus confirming that Saudi Arabia had qualified automatically and would not face Mick McCarthy's side in a two-legged play-off.
Iran will now play off against the UAE, with the winner to tackle Ireland on November 10th and 15th.
A FIFA statement said: "Following up on a complaint submitted by the Iranian Football Federation, according to which Bahrain allegedly fielded ineligible players in World Cup qualifying matches of the Asian second round, FIFA checked the official documents pertaining to these matches of Group A and found that all Bahrain players engaged in these matches were eligible to compete."
Iranian soccer chief Mohsen Safai Farahani had claimed that the Bahrain players were ineligible due to yellow cards received in previous matches.
PA