1999 Rugby World Cup qualifying explained

The 1999 Rugby World Cup qualifying was held in several continental zones. Four countries qualified automatically— as tournament hosts, as reigning champions, as runners-up in the previous tournament, and as winners of the third-place playoff in the previous tournament. Repechage was first introduced for the 1999 competition qualifying.

Tournaments

• Africa Qualification
• European Qualification
• Americas qualification
• Asia qualification
• Oceania qualification
• Repechage

Qualified teams

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Europe (Europe 1) (Automatic qualifier) (Europe 2) (Europe 4) (Europe 5) (Europe 3) (Europe 6) (Host) Africa (Champion) (Africa 1)

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Americas (Americas 1) (Americas 2) (Repechage 2) (Americas 3) Oceania (Oceania 1) (Oceania 2) (Automatic qualifier) (Oceania 3) (Repechage 1) Asia (Asia 1)

Automatic qualifiers

Only the tournament hosts, as well as the two finalists and the third-place winner from the previous Rugby World Cup, were automatically qualified for the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

• (Third place)
• (Runner-up)
• (Champion)
• (Host)

Regional qualifiers

Africa

• (Africa 1)

Europe

• (Europe 1)
• (Europe 2)
• (Europe 3)
• (Europe 4)
• (Europe 5)
• (Europe 6)

Asia

• (Asia 1)

Americas

• (Americas 1)
• (Americas 2)
• (Americas 3)
• (Repechage 2)

Oceania

• (Oceania 1)
• (Oceania 2)
• (Oceania 3)
• (Repechage 1)