The Heineken Champions Cup trophy is pictured at the Aviva Stadium before last month's quarter-final between Munster and Toulouse ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Following the landmark announcement of the inclusion of the leading South African franchises in its tournaments, EPCR has confirmed the formats and qualifiers for next season’s expanded Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup.
The 2022/23 Heineken Champions Cup will be competed for by 24 elite teams with eight representatives from the United Rugby Championship, including historic first appearances by the Stormers, Bulls and Sharks, as well as eight sides from the Gallagher Premiership and eight from the Top 14.
The teams will be divided into two pools of 12 – Pool A and Pool B – and the tournament will be played over eight weekends with four rounds of pool matches, starting next December when La Rochelle begin the defence of their title.
The eight highest-ranked sides from each pool will qualify for the knockout stages which will consist of a round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final at the Aviva Stadium on May 20, 2023.
The draw for the Heineken Champions Cup pools, which will be live-streamed from the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday, June 28, will be carried out on the same lines as last season.
Teams will be separated into four tiers based on their rankings, and teams from the same league in the same tier will not be drawn into the same pool.
The number 1 and number 2 ranked teams from each league will be in tier 1, the number 3 and number 4 ranked teams will be in tier 2, the number 5 and 6 ranked teams will be in tier 3, and the number 7 and number 8 ranked teams will be tier 4.
The tier 1 and the tier 4 teams which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league, will play one another home and away during the pool phase, as will the tier 2 and tier 3 sides which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league.
Twenty teams will play in next season’s EPCR Challenge Cup with eight representatives from the United Rugby Championship, including the Johannesburg-based Lions who will also be making a historic first appearance in an EPCR competition, six from the Topr 14, five from the Premiership, as well as the Cheetahs from Bloemfontein who have accepted an invitation to compete.
The teams will be divided into two pools of 10 – Pool A and Pool B – and in a similar format to the Heineken Champions Cup, the tournament will be played over eight weekends with four rounds of matches in the pool phase starting in December.
The six highest-ranked sides from each pool, as well as the 9th and 10th ranked teams from each of the Heineken Champions Cup pools, will qualify for a round of 16, which will be followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final at the Aviva Stadium on May 19, 2023.
The live-streamed draw for the EPCR Challenge Cup pools is also scheduled to take place at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday, June 28. The teams will be separated into three tiers based on their rankings, and teams from the same league will not play against one another during the pool phase.
The number 1 and number 2 ranked teams from each league will be in tier 1, the number 3 and number 4 ranked teams from each league, as well as the number 5 and number 6 ranked teams from the URC, will be in tier 2. The Dragons, Zebre Parma, Bayonne, Perpignan, Bath and the Cheetahs will be in tier 3.
The tier 1 and the tier 3 teams which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league, will play one another home and away over four pool stage rounds.
The tier 2 teams which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not from the same league, will play one another home and away during the pool phase.
In order to adhere to the key principle of no same-league matches, tier 2 clubs from the Top 14 can only play against opposition from the URC, and similarly, tier 2 clubs from the Premiership can also only play against opposition from the URC.
Further details and timings for the draws for both the Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup pools will be communicated shortly.
TOP 14 – Castres Olympique, Montpellier, Bordeaux-Bègles, Toulouse, 5 La Rochelle, 6 Racing 92, 7 Clermont Auvergne, 8 Lyon
GALLAGHER PREMIERSHIP – Leicester Tigers, Saracens, 3 Harlequins, 4 Northampton Saints, 5 Gloucester Rugby, 6 Sale Sharks, 7 Exeter Chiefs, 8 London Irish
UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP – Stormers, Bulls, 3 LEINSTER, 4 ULSTER, 5 Sharks, 6 MUNSTER, 7 Edinburgh, 8 Ospreys
UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP – 1 Glasgow Warriors, 2 Scarlets, 3 CONNACHT, 4 Lions, 5 Benetton Rugby, 6 Cardiff Rugby, 7 Dragons, 8 Zebre Parma
TOP 14 – 1 Toulon, 2 Pau, 3 Stade Francais, 4 Brive, 5 Perpignan, 6 Bayonne
GALLAGHER PREMIERSHIP – 1 Wasps, 2 Bristol Bears, 3 Worcester Warriors, 4 Newcastle Falcons, 5 Bath, Invited: Cheetahs
Round 1 – December 9/10/11, 2022
Round 2 – December 16/17/18, 2022
Round 3 – January 13/14/15, 2023
Round 4 – January 20/21/22, 2023
Round of 16 – March 31-April 1/2, 2023
Quarter-Finals – April 7/8/9, 2023
Semi-Finals – April 28/29/30, 2023
EPCR Challenge Cup Final – Friday, May 19, 2023, Aviva Stadium
Heineken Champions Cup Final – Saturday, May 20, 2023, Aviva Stadium
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