Toulon reflect on their European Challenge Cup Final defeat at the hands of Cardiff Blues on Sunday © Getty Images

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Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup

Teams: Cardiff Blues | England | France | Ireland | Italy | Racing Metro | Scarlets | Scotland | Toulon | Wales

European Rugby Cup officials have hailed a record combined attendance for their two showpiece events and also confirmed the qualifiers for next season's Heineken Cup.

Toulouse added the 2010 Heineken Cup crown to the ones they won in 1996, 2003 and 2005 by defeating Biarritz Olympique 21-19 at Stade de France on Saturday watched by a crowd of 78,962 to bring the landmark 15th campaign to a record-breaking end.

On Sunday, a tournament record crowd of 48,990 at Marseille's Stade Velodrome saw Cardiff Blues claim the European Challenge Cup with a 28-21 victory over Toulon. As a result, the finals of the two ERC tournaments were watched by 127,952 fans - beating the old combined mark set in season 2003/04 by over 32,000 - with 1,081,430 fans going through the turnstiles for the season's 79 Heineken Cup matches.

In related news, Racing Metro and Toulon will make their Heineken Cup debuts in early October as the 56th and 57th teams to take part Europe's premier club competition and the Blues' Challenge Cup triumph saw the 24th and final place in the 16th season of the competition go to Welsh region the Scarlets.

The draw for the six Pools of four teams each will take place on Tuesday, June 8, with the six Tier 1 teams - Munster, Toulouse, Leinster, Leicester Tigers, Cardiff Blues and Biarritz Olympique - set to be kept apart. And while Racing Metro and Toulon will take their Heineken Cup bows in Round 1 in the autumn, Toulouse will start their defence of a record fourth title by playing their 111th match.

The 2010/11 Heineken Cup qualifiers, nation by nation in their ERC European Ranking order, are:

ENGLAND (6): Leicester Tigers, London Wasps, Northampton Saints, Bath Rugby, London Irish, Saracens
FRANCE: (7): Toulouse, Biarritz Olympique, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Perpignan, Castres Olympique, RC Toulon, Racing-Metro 92
IRELAND: (3): Munster, Leinster, Ulster Rugby
ITALY (2): Benetton Treviso, Aironi Rugby
SCOTLAND (2): Glasgow Warriors, Edinburgh
WALES (4): Cardiff Blues, Ospreys, Scarlets, Newport Gwent Dragons

The 16th Heineken Cup Final - Millennium Stadium, May 21/22, 2011