2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying
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2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying began at the 2007 tournament in France, where twelve teams (the first three in each of the four pools) earned a place in the finals of the tournament, this automatically qualified them for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.[1]
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/de/Rugby_World_Cup_2011_qualifier.jpg/320px-Rugby_World_Cup_2011_qualifier.jpg)
After much speculation, it was confirmed on 30 November 2007 that 20 teams would contest the next edition of the tournament.[2] The qualification system for the remaining eight places was region-based, with Europe and the Americas allocated two qualifying places, Africa, Asia and Oceania one place each, and the last place determined by a playoff.[3]
With 79 teams participating in regional qualifying competitions, and 12 teams qualifying automatically, 91 nations were involved in the process.