It took a controversial extra time goal by William Gallas to secure a berth for France, which beat Ireland 2-1.
France has 12 FIFA World Cup appearances under its belt, which include a win in 1998 on home soil, a second place in 2006 and a third place in 1958 and 1986.
Greece, which secured a 1-0 win over Ukraine, was part of the 1994 World Cup but failed to qualify for 1998, 2002 and 2006.
Portugal, which has made four FIFA World Cup appearances in its history with a best place of third during the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England, also beat Bosnia Herzegovina 1-0.
Slovenia, which also qualified for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea/Japan, advanced with a 1-0 win over Russia.
In the other fixtures, Algeria beat Egypt 1-0. The Desert Foxes also beat Namibia in September to qualify for the African Nations Cup that will be held in Angola next year, which they have played 13 times and won once in 1990.
They have twice played in the FIFA World Cup' in 1982 and 1986.
Uruguay secured a place by holding Costa Rica to a 1-1 after winning the first leg 1-0. It has been some time since their last World Cup triumph' in Brazil in 1950 ' but the Celeste have competed in eight further finals.
They also reached the semi-finals in 1954 and 1970, and have reached the second round twice since.
The 32 qualified teams will be placed into their groups on 4 December 2009 at the 2010 Final Draw in Cape Town.
FIFA and the 2010 Local Organising Committee were billed to host a flag-raising ceremony in Nasrec for all the 2010 World Cup finalists on Thursday.
Cape Town - 19/11/2009
Pana
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