The European Champions Cup knockout rounds are underway, delivering the cross-border club rugby that supporters across England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and South Africa have been waiting for. Here is a look at the competition, how it works, and what to expect from the knockout stages.
What Is the European Champions Cup?
The EPCR Champions Cup is the premier European club rugby competition. It brings together the top clubs from the Gallagher Premiership, the URC (United Rugby Championship) and the Top 14 in France for a pool stage followed by knockout rounds leading to the final in May.
It is the club equivalent of the Six Nations — the tournament that every club in England, France and Ireland prioritises alongside their domestic league campaign. Winning the Champions Cup is considered the highest achievement in European club rugby.
The Format
The Champions Cup pool stage features 24 clubs divided into four pools of six. The top two from each pool advance directly to the quarter-finals; clubs finishing third and fourth enter a knockout round to compete for the remaining four quarter-final spots.
The quarter-finals and semi-finals are single-leg ties hosted by the higher-ranked club. The final is played at a neutral venue — typically one of Europe’s major stadiums — in late May.
The Knockout Rounds
The quarter-finals are where the European Champions Cup becomes genuinely unpredictable. The knockout format means a single off day eliminates a club that may have dominated the pool stage. Away ties in France’s Top 14 venues — where crowd atmosphere and surface conditions are significantly different from English or Irish grounds — have produced some of the competition’s most dramatic results.
Irish provinces have dominated the competition over the past decade, with Leinster particularly active in the later rounds. English clubs — particularly Saracens, Bath and Leicester — have consistently challenged for the title when their squads have been fully fit during the European window.
French Clubs in the Mix
French rugby’s financial strength — the Top 14 is the best-resourced domestic league in the world — means French clubs are consistently dangerous in the knockout rounds. The Stade Rennais, La Rochelle, Toulouse and Bordeaux have all reached final stages in recent years, with La Rochelle winning back-to-back finals in the early 2020s before the competition landscape continued to evolve.
Any club drawn to play in France in the knockout rounds faces a significant challenge — the atmospheres at venues like Stade Vélodrome in Marseille are unlike anything in English or Irish club rugby.
The Final
The European Champions Cup final in May is one of the calendar highlights for rugby supporters across the continent. Tickets are typically in high demand and the match draws a television audience across multiple broadcast markets. For English supporters, it represents one of the few opportunities to watch their club side against the very best European opposition in a high-stakes final.
For a background on European and international club competitions, see the Teams & Competitions guide.
Useful Guides
- Rugby Rules Explained
- Rugby Positions Explained
- Scrums & Lineouts Explained
- How Scoring Works in Rugby