The race for the Heineken Cup silverware is hotting up © Getty Images

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Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup | Amlin Challenge Cup

Teams: England | France | Ireland | Italy | Scotland | Wales

The race for the prestigious eight Heineken Cup quarter-final places is entering the final straight - but 11 of the 24 teams in the 2010-11 tournament will still be in elite European club rugby action come April.

While the six Pool winners and two best Pool runners-up will prolong their Heineken Cup adventure into the knock-out stages, the next three best Pool runners-up will join the five Amlin Challenge Cup Pool winners in the tournament's quarter-finals.

With the incentive of an extended run in European competition, and the possibility of winning a coveted European title, there is bound to be an added edge to the final 24 Heineken Cup Pool fixtures.

The format of the two best Heineken Cup runners-up qualifying for the quarter-finals as the No.7 and No.8 ranked teams has been in operation since the 1999-2000 season - with bonus points coming into the equation in season 2003-2004.

Since then, no team has qualified as a best runner up with less than 19 points although in 2003-2004 Celtic Warriors and in 2006-2007 the Ospreys both discovered that even 20 points was not sufficient to make the knock-out stages.

As you strap yourself in for what is set to be a rollercoaster of a weekend, here are some quarter-final qualification pointers:

No team has qualified as Pool winners on less than four wins.
No team has qualified as one of the best runners-up on less than four wins.
Since bonus points were introduced no team has qualified as a Pool winner on less than 18 points (Stade Français Paris in 2003-2004).
Since bonus points were introduced no team has qualified as one of the best runners-up on less than 19 points (Leicester Tigers in 2004-2005)

But how will the quarter-finalists be decided?

Pool Winners
The Pool winner will be the Club with the highest number of match points earned in each Pool. The runners-up will be the two second placed Clubs from all six Pools with the next highest number of points. For the quarter-final round, the Pool winners will be ranked 1 - 6 in terms of the number of points earned. The runners-up will be ranked 7 and 8.

Clubs in the same Pool
(ii) if two or more Clubs are equal on points and the Clubs are in the same Pool, then qualification / ranking will be based on the matches played between the Clubs concerned:
(a) the Club which has earned the most number of match points from the matches
(b) the Club which has scored the most tries in the matches
(c) the Club with the best aggregate points difference from the matches

Clubs from different Pools
(iii) if still unresolved, or the teams have not played each other previously in the Pool stage, qualification / ranking will be based on:
(a) the number of tries scored in all Pool matches
(b) aggregate points difference from all Pool matches
(c) the Club with the fewest number of players sent off and / or suspended in all Pool matches
(d) toss of a coin

Teams ranked 1-4 will have home advantage. The quarter-finals will be:
Team 1 v Team 8
Team 2 v Team 7
Team 3 v Team 6
Team 4 v Team 5

The three next best Heineken Cup runners-up (the third, fourth and fifth best) will qualify for the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals. The top four Amlin Challenge Cup Pool winners will have home advantage with the quarter-finalists ranked accordingly:

1 ACC 1 (Top ranked ACC Pool winner)
2 ACC 2 (Second ranked ACC Pool winner)
3 ACC 3 (Third ranked ACC Pool winner)
4 ACC 4 (Fourth ranked ACC Pool winner)
5 Heineken Cup 1
6 Heineken Cup 2
7 Heineken Cup 3
8 ACC 5 (Fifth ranked ACC Pool winner)

The quarter-final pairings will be:
1 (ACC 1) v 8 (ACC 5)
2 (ACC 2) v 7 (Heineken Cup 3)
3 (ACC 3) v 6 (Heineken Cup 2)
4 (ACC 4) v 5 (Heineken Cup 1)