Fans hoping for a return to the old four-team, six pools Champions Cup format in the halcyon Heineken days of sponsorship look set to be disappointed.
The 2020–21 competition took on a different look because of Covdid and a similar but revised format, still involving two pools of 12 teams, took place for 2021–22 and 2022-23.
A more palatable multi-pool format was in place last year and four pools of six remains the best compromise solution in the eyes of EPRC bosses.
“There may be some flexibility going forward but don’t expect us to change the eight-weekend format because it is working, it suits the players, it suits the narrative,” EPCR CEO Jacques Raynaud told TRP.
“With the de-facto two-week windows, European rugby is the talk of the town for three weeks so it suits EPCR as well. There are lots of reasons why these blocks are working.”
The 2023/24 Champions Cup produced some outstanding games and no little jeopardy, with the vast majority of matches having something riding on them in terms of knockout qualification.
However, the decision by some clubs to field weakened teams tarnished the competition’s elite reputation, while too many Round of 16 ties were repeat fixtures from the pool stages.
The one-week gap between the Round of 16 and the quarter-finals also caused logistical nightmares for travelling fans, the host clubs trying to sell tickets and hospitality providers and broadcasters alike.
An EPCR working group is looking at the scheduling to see what can be done – but if anything does change, it won’t be until the 2025/26 season, one which ends with the final in Bilbao.
“We apologised to the fans, the Covid-related changes were happening too often, I think it was three times in four editions,” said Reynaud. “So our first and foremost element was to go back to the pools and maximise jeopardy.
“I think there was only one match (in the Challenge Cup), Perpignan versus Newcastle, where whatever the outcome was it wouldn’t have changed anything. So we are stabilising in the second year given the success.
“But whilst we are happy that it is working, and working really nicely, we are always listening to fans and trying to improve. If we had to change something at the moment it would be having the Round of 16 and the quarter-finals back-to-back.
“It is a very tight turnround particularly if South African clubs are involved in terms of travel etc, so we have set up a working group between the leagues to find the right formula. I am sure we will find the right formula, to make it more fan friendly. If we find a solution it would be for 2025/26 and beyond.”
Next season the Champions Cup celebrates its 30th anniversary and the showpiece match will be staged in Cardiff, the venue for the very first final in 1995/96 between Toulouse and Wales’ capital club, which the French side won in extra time.
Beyond Cardiff next year and Bilbao in 2026, the destination for the final has yet to be decided. But there is hope for Italian rugby fans that they could finally be invited to the Champions party.
Every other Six Nations Union has hosted the final and with Benetton now back in the Champions Cup and Italian rugby in general on a high, it makes a lot of sense to rid the competition of that anomaly by taking it to Rome’s Olympic Stadium.
“We absolutely would agree to that, the fact that EPCR would like to go to Italy for a final one day is definitely a yes,” Reynaud added. “We have a strategy where we have a three-year cycle and we try to rotate it and go to a core market one year, a new destination the next and then a classic destination.
“Tottenham Hotspur (this year’s venue) was a new stadium for most rugby fans other than when Saracens play their derby (Showdown) game there; next year we’re going back to Cardiff, a Home Union ground, the sacred cow of rugby stadiums, where it all started 30 years ago.
“We are currently running different processes (of selection) which does include some southern European contenders.”
With Georgia’s Black Lion franchise and the Amsterdam-based South African side, the Cheetahs, locked into EPCR competitions for two years, there are no immediate plans to add any more teams to the line-up. However, there is still a strong desire to spread the EPCR competitions geographically beyond that period.
When pressed on whether England deserves to have eight Champions Cup contenders from a 10-team Premiership, Reynaud said it wasn’t his place to comment on the qualification criteria.
However, he did point to the success that English clubs enjoyed last year, with Northampton and Harlequins making it through to the semi-finals and Gloucester reaching the Challenge Cup final.
“Last year was a really strong showing from the English clubs. They went deep into the competition.
“They produced a finalist in the Challenge Cup and two semi-finalists in the Champions Cup, so the stats are saying whatever the selection, the result at the end is that the English have had a great season.”
Another bugbear of fans is not knowing the fixture list until well after the Pool draw has been made. However, when the fixtures are officially published (expected to be this week) there will be some real humdingers to look forward to in December and January.
La Rochelle and Leinster, finalists in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, are drawn together in Pool 2, having met at the same stage last season, while Northampton’s rematch with Munster, a side they beat twice last year, should be another to savour.
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