2025–26 European Rugby Champions Cup

Not to be confused with 2025–26 EPCR Challenge Cup.

2025–26 European Rugby Champions Cup
Tournament details
Countries England
France
Ireland
Scotland
South Africa
Wales
Tournament format(s)Modified round-robin and knockout
Date5 December 2025 – 23 May 2026
Tournament statistics
Teams24
Final
VenueSan Mamés Stadium, Bilbao

The 2025–26 European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the 2025–26 Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) will be the twelfth season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) for professional clubs. It will be the 31st season of the pan-European professional club rugby competition.

The final will be played at San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao.[1]

Bordeaux Bègles enter the competition as defending champions with Northampton Saints entering as beaten finalists.[2]

Teams

Twenty-four clubs from the three major European domestic and regional leagues qualified for the 2025–26 edition of the Champions Cup.[3] As both European trophy winners from the previous season achieved top eight domestic finishes, qualification was won on league standing alone.

The distribution of teams was:

Premiership Top 14 United Rugby Championship
England England France France Ireland Ireland Scotland Scotland South Africa South Africa Wales Wales

Team details

Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.

Team Coach(es)/
Director of Rugby 		Captain(s) Stadium Capacity Method of qualification
England Bath South Africa Johann van Graan Recreation Ground 14,509 Premiership top 8[4]
France Bayonne France Grégory Patat Stade Jean-Dauger 14,370 Top 14 top 8
France Bordeaux Bègles France Yannick Bru Stade Chaban-Delmas 34,694 Top 14 top 8[5]
England Bristol Bears Samoa Pat Lam Ashton Gate 27,000 Premiership top 8
South Africa Bulls South Africa Johan Ackermann Loftus Versfeld 51,762 URC top 8
France Castres France Xavier Sadourny Stade Pierre-Fabre 12,500 Top 14 top 8
France Clermont France Christophe Urios Stade Marcel-Michelin 19,022 Top 14 top 8
Scotland Edinburgh South Africa Sean Everitt Edinburgh Rugby Stadium 7,800 URC top 8
Scotland Glasgow Warriors South Africa Franco Smith Scotstoun Stadium 7,351 URC top 8
England Gloucester England George Skivington Kingsholm Stadium 16,115 Premiership top 8
England Harlequins England Danny Wilson Twickenham Stoop 14,800 Premiership top 8
France La Rochelle Ireland Ronan O'Gara Stade Marcel-Deflandre 16,700 Top 14 top 8
England Leicester Tigers England Geoff Parling Welford Road Stadium 25,849 Premiership top 8
Ireland Leinster Ireland Leo Cullen Aviva Stadium, Dublin 55,000 URC top 8
Ireland Munster New Zealand Clayton McMillan Thomond Park 25,600 URC top 8
England Northampton Saints England Phil Dowson Franklin's Gardens 15,200 Premiership top 8
France Pau France Sébastien Piqueronies Stade du Hameau 14,999 Top 14 top 8
England Sale Sharks England Alex Sanderson Salford Community Stadium 12,000 Premiership top 8
England Saracens Ireland Mark McCall StoneX Stadium 10,500 Premiership top 8
Wales Scarlets Wales Dwayne Peel Parc y Scarlets 14,870 URC top 8
South Africa Sharks New Zealand John Plumtree Kings Park Stadium 52,000 URC top 8
South Africa Stormers South Africa John Dobson Cape Town Stadium 55,000 URC top 8
France Toulon France Pierre Mignoni Stade Mayol 17,500 Top 14 top 8
France Toulouse France Ugo Mola Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500 Top 14 top 8

Draw

For the purposes of the draw, the 24 clubs were separated into two tiers, Tier 1 and Tier 2, based on their league finishing position; with the winners of each domestic competition (Bath, Toulouse and Leinster) and the defending Champions Cup winners, Bordeaux Bègles, seeded in the top tier. The remaining twenty teams will be seeded in the second tier.

Like previous seasons, the four pools will be made up of six teams, with each pool containing two clubs from each of leagues; however, clubs from the same URC Shield cannot be in the same pool.

Pool stage

Main article: 2025–26 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage

Teams were drawn into pools in Dublin on 2 July 2024.[6][7] Teams will be awarded four points for a win, two for a draw, one for scoring four tries in a game, and one for losing by less than eight points.

Each pool consists of six teams, two from each of the three contributing leagues. Each team will play the four teams not from its own league once with the top four teams advancing to the round of 16, where the top two teams in each group are given home advantage. The fifth placed teams 'drop' into the Challenge Cup knockout rounds, joining twelve clubs from that competition's pool stages in the knockout stage as the ninth to twelfth seeds, earning away ties with the fifth-to eighth-ranked sides from the Challenge Cup's pool stage. The sixth placed team in each group is eliminated.

Pool 1

European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 1
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts Qualification
1 France Clermont 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Home round of 16.
2 Scotland Glasgow Warriors 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 England Sale Sharks 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Away round of 16.
4 England Saracens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 South Africa Sharks 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Away Challenge Cup round of 16.
6 France Toulouse 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source: EPCR[8]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled.

Pool 2

European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 2
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts Qualification
1 England Bath 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Home round of 16.
2 France Castres 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Scotland Edinburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Away round of 16.
4 England Gloucester 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Ireland Munster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Away Challenge Cup round of 16.
6 France Toulon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source: EPCR[9]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled.

Pool 3

European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 3
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts Qualification
1 France Bayonne 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Home round of 16.
2 England Harlequins 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 France La Rochelle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Away round of 16.
4 England Leicester Tigers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Ireland Leinster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Away Challenge Cup round of 16.
6 South Africa Stormers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source: EPCR[10]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled.

Pool 4

European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 4
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts Qualification
1 France Bordeaux Bègles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Home round of 16.
2 England Bristol Bears 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 South Africa Bulls 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Away round of 16.
4 England Northampton Saints 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 France Pau 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Away Challenge Cup round of 16.
6 Wales Scarlets 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source: EPCR[11]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled.

References

  1. ^ "Champions Cup: Cardiff to host 2025 final before 2026 return to Bilbao". BBC Sport. 31 January 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  2. ^ Kitson, Robert (24 May 2025). "Northampton heartbreak as Penaud inspires Bordeaux to Champions Cup glory". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  3. ^ "All the teams qualified for the Investec Champions Cup 2025/26". EPCR. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  4. ^ Bath also qualified as winner of the 2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup.
  5. ^ Bordeaux Bégles also qualified as winner of the 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup.
  6. ^ "EPCR POOL DRAWS FOR 2025/26 SEASON". EPCR. 18 June 2025. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
  7. ^ "RIVALRIES REIGNITED, CLASSICS REVIVED AS 2025/26 INVESTEC CHAMPIONS CUP POOLS REVEALED". EPCR. 1 July 2025. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  8. ^ "Pool Tables | Investec Champions Cup". www.epcrugby.com. European Professional Club Rugby. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  9. ^ "Pool Tables | Investec Champions Cup". www.epcrugby.com. European Professional Club Rugby. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Pool Tables | Investec Champions Cup". www.epcrugby.com. European Professional Club Rugby. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  11. ^ "Pool Tables | Investec Champions Cup". www.epcrugby.com. European Professional Club Rugby. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
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