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:
- England: eight clubs
- France: eight clubs
- Ireland, Scotland, South Africa and Wales: eight clubs
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
|
 Bath
|
 Johann van Graan
|
Ben Spencer
|
Recreation Ground
|
14,509
|
Premiership top 8[4]
|
 Bayonne
|
Grégory Patat
|
Arthur Iturria
|
Stade Jean-Dauger
|
14,370
|
Top 14 top 8
|
| Bordeaux Bègles
|
Yannick Bru
|
Jefferson Poirot
|
Stade Chaban-Delmas
|
34,694
|
Top 14 top 8[5]
|
| Bristol Bears
|
 Pat Lam
|
Fitz Harding
|
Ashton Gate
|
27,000
|
Premiership top 8
|
| Bulls
|
Johan Ackermann
|
Ruan Nortjé
|
Loftus Versfeld
|
51,762
|
URC top 8
|
| Castres
|
Xavier Sadourny
|
Mathieu Babillot
|
Stade Pierre-Fabre
|
12,500
|
Top 14 top 8
|
| Clermont
|
Christophe Urios
|
Baptiste Jauneau
|
Stade Marcel-Michelin
|
19,022
|
Top 14 top 8
|
 Edinburgh
|
Sean Everitt
|
Magnus Bradbury
|
Edinburgh Rugby Stadium
|
7,800
|
URC top 8
|
| Glasgow Warriors
|
Franco Smith
|
Kyle Steyn
|
Scotstoun Stadium
|
7,351
|
URC top 8
|
| Gloucester
|
George Skivington
|
 Tomos Williams
|
Kingsholm Stadium
|
16,115
|
Premiership top 8
|
| Harlequins
|
.svg.png) Jason Gilmore
|
Alex Dombrandt
|
Twickenham Stoop
|
14,800
|
Premiership top 8
|
| La Rochelle
|
 Ronan O'Gara
|
Grégory Alldritt
|
Stade Marcel-Deflandre
|
18,000
|
Top 14 top 8
|
| Leicester Tigers
|
Geoff Parling
|
Ollie Chessum
|
Welford Road Stadium
|
25,849
|
Premiership top 8
|
| Leinster
|
Leo Cullen
|
Caelan Doris
|
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
|
55,000
|
URC top 8
|
| Munster
|
 Clayton McMillan
|
Tadhg Beirne
|
Thomond Park, Limerick
Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork
|
25,600
45,000
|
URC top 8
|
| Northampton Saints
|
Phil Dowson
|
George Furbank
|
Franklin's Gardens
|
15,200
|
Premiership top 8
|
| Pau
|
Sébastien Piqueronies
|
Lucas Rey
|
Stade du Hameau
|
14,999
|
Top 14 top 8
|
| Sale Sharks
|
Alex Sanderson
|
Ernst van Rhyn
|
Salford Community Stadium
|
12,000
|
Premiership top 8
|
| Saracens
|
Mark McCall
|
Maro Itoje
|
StoneX Stadium
|
10,500
|
Premiership top 8
|
| Scarlets
|
Dwayne Peel
|
Josh Macleod
|
Parc y Scarlets
|
14,870
|
URC top 8
|
| Sharks
|
JP Pietersen
(for John Plumtree)[a]
|
André Esterhuizen
|
Kings Park Stadium
|
52,000
|
URC top 8
|
| Stormers
|
John Dobson
|
Salmaan Moerat
|
Cape Town Stadium
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
|
55,000
46,000
|
URC top 8
|
| Toulon
|
Pierre Mignoni
|
Charles Ollivon
|
Stade Mayol
|
17,500
|
Top 14 top 8
|
| Toulouse
|
Ugo Mola
|
Julien Marchand
|
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
Teams were drawn into pools in Dublin on 2 July 2025.[6] 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 fewer 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
Source:
EPCR[7]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
|
Bath (4)
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
180
|
89
|
+91
|
25
|
10
|
4
|
0
|
16
|
Home Champions Cup round of 16.
|
| 2
|
Toulon (7)
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
123
|
106
|
+17
|
14
|
13
|
2
|
0
|
14
|
| 3
|
Castres (12)
|
4
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
98
|
106
|
−8
|
13
|
15
|
2
|
0
|
10
|
Away Champions Cup round of 16.
|
| 4
|
Edinburgh (14)
|
4
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
69
|
140
|
−71
|
9
|
18
|
2
|
0
|
10
|
| 5
|
Munster (10CC)
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
99
|
101
|
−2
|
15
|
13
|
2
|
2
|
8
|
Away Challenge Cup round of 16.
|
| 6
|
Gloucester
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
75
|
102
|
−27
|
8
|
15
|
1
|
1
|
6
|
|
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 3
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 4
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.
Knockout stage
The knockout stage follows the same format as used in previous years, which will begin with a single-leg round of 16. This round is then followed by the quarter-finals and semi-finals, before the tournament concludes with the final at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao on 23 May 2026.
All clubs will be ranked in descending order, based firstly on their ranking in their pool, and subsequently on the number of competition points they have accumulated, to create an overall ranking from 1 to 16. The pool winners will be ranked 1 to 4, the second-placed clubs are ranked 5 to 8, the third-placed clubs are ranked 9 to 12, and the fourth-placed clubs are ranked 13 to 16.
Whilst the round of 16 follows a pre-determined format, the quarter-finals see home advantage given to the higher ranked team, based on a pre-determined match-up. As such the teams seeded 1 to 4 are guaranteed home advantage if they reach the quarter-final, and teams seeded 13 to 16 are guaranteed an away fixture if they do so. Whether a team ranked from 5 to 12 will play home or away will depend on other results in their section of the bracket.
At the semi-final stage, the higher ranked team has 'home country' advantage, with the match to be played in a suitably-sized stadium in their home union's territory, but not necessarily their own normal home stadium.[11]
Seeding
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
| Higher-ranked team home venue |
| Higher-ranked team home venue |
| Higher-ranked team home venue |
| Higher-ranked team home venue |
Semi-finals
| Higher-ranked team home country |
| Higher-ranked team home country |
Final
Notes
- ^ Pietersen replaced Plumtree after the opening round after he stepped away from coaches duties at the club.
References
Salesi Rayasi (Bordeaux Bègles)