Elite European Club Rugby
Investec Champions Cup
Europe’s elite club rugby competition, bringing together leading teams from the Premiership, Top 14 and United Rugby Championship.
Season
2026/27
Clubs
24
Holding champions
Bordeaux Bègles
Champions Cup Knockouts
Route to the Final
Follow every knockout tie from the Round of 16 through to the championship decider in Lyon.
Pool Stage
Champions Cup Pools
Four pools of six clubs competing for sixteen knockout places.
Champions Cup
Pool 1
Champions Cup
Pool 2
Champions Cup
Pool 3
Champions Cup
Pool 4
Qualification Key
Road to the Round of 16
Pool Leader
1
Leads the pool and receives the strongest available knockout seeding.
Automatic Round-of-16 Qualification
1–3
The top three clubs in every pool automatically qualify for the Champions Cup Round of 16.
Cross-pool Qualification Race
Remaining teams
The four strongest remaining clubs across all four pools complete the Round-of-16 field.
Eliminated
Outside the top 16
Clubs that do not finish among the sixteen qualifiers leave the Champions Cup.
Tournament Structure
From the pools to Lyon
01
Pool Stage
Twenty-four clubs are divided into four pools of six, with each club playing four pool fixtures.
02
Automatic Qualifiers
The top three clubs in each pool qualify automatically, creating twelve of the sixteen knockout places.
03
Cross-pool Qualifiers
The four highest-ranked remaining clubs across all pools claim the final four Round-of-16 places.
04
Round of 16
The sixteen qualifiers enter a seeded single-match knockout round.
05
Quarter-finals
The eight Round-of-16 winners progress into four single-match quarter-finals.
06
Semi-finals
The four remaining clubs contest two semi-finals for places in the European final.
07
Champions Cup Final
The two semi-final winners meet in Lyon to decide the 2026/27 European champion.
Competition Records
Champion information and historical markers from Europe’s leading club competition.
Holding champions
Bordeaux Bègles
Most Titles
Toulouse
Competition Founded
1995
2027 Final
Lyon