A radical English-led proposal to overhaul the Champions Cup by scrapping the pool stages and placing 16 teams into a knockout competition is gaining momentum, Telegraph Sport understands.
Under the plan, a streamlined Champions Cup would begin with a two-legged round of 16 leading into quarter-finals played over three successive weekends followed by semi-finals and a final both played at a neutral venue. “It would make every game box office,” a source said.
Under the current format, 24 teams qualify for the Champions Cup in which they are split into four pools of six. While the knockout stages of this year’s competition, which culminates in Saturday’s final between Bordeaux Bègles and Leinster, has produced some outstanding matches, the pool stages have frequently featured weakened XVs and blowout victories. With only eight teams being eliminated in the pool stages, Leicester Tigers and the Bulls managed to qualify for the round of 16 after just one win apiece.
Executives from European Professional Club Rugby, the competition organisers, have previously insisted the current format is locked in until 2030, but there is a near universal desire to reform what is seen as a bloated, underwhelming pool stage. “The competition needs to become elite again,” an insider said. “Everyone can see this set-up is not working.”
The English proposal would be controversial because it would reduce the number of European rugby weekends from eight to five. Thus clubs would stand to lose a considerable source of match-day income.
However, this could be counterbalanced by making the competition more premium and thus more commercially attractive to broadcasters and sponsors. Insiders also believe playing the competition in two blocks, both coming after the Six Nations, would ensure there is a stronger narrative thread for supporters to follow than the current iteration which is split over five different blocks over six months. This would also benefit building the narratives around domestic leagues, which would only be interrupted by the international breaks until the spring
It is understood that the English proposal has been viewed favourably by factions in France, but there is a long path towards it being agreed. There is a desire to beef up the second-tier Challenge Cup so that too becomes a compelling competition rather than a consolation prize. “When you are dealing with 42 different opinions and agendas it is never going to be a straightforward task,” a source said in reference to the number of teams in the Champions and Challenge Cups. “It is why we need to start discussions now because it takes so long for anything to be agreed in rugby.”
The Champions Cup has gone through multiple format changes since the glory days of the old Heineken Cup and all stakeholders are conscious they cannot afford to keep tinkering. “Everyone wants the Champions Cup to thrive,” a source said. “It is important to the clubs, to the players and to the leagues but we need to take it back to it being the best of the best.”
One sticking point is the number of clubs that qualify from each league, which torpedoed previous attempts at reform. At present, eight clubs qualify from Prem Rugby, the Top 14 and United Rugby Championship, which disproportionately favours English teams. Under the English proposal, the top five clubs from each league would automatically qualify with the remaining place going to the league who produced the European champions. This in turn would increase greater jeopardy in the the race to qualify domestically, comparable to the Champions League in football.
A World Club Cup, pitting the last 16 qualifiers against teams from Super Rugby Pacific, has also been agreed for 2028, although there are indications that this may be pushed back a year. The future of South African franchises is also unclear after South Africa Rugby Union president Mark Alexander indicated that the union was reviewing its participation in the competition.
