Wednesday’s Heineken Champions Cup Pool Stage Draw in Lausanne will determine the calendar for the 2020-21 season and provide 24 teams with their path to Marseille for next season’s showpiece final. Here we outline exactly how the draw will work...
How will the draw work?
The 2020/21 Heineken Champions Cup will be competed for by 24 clubs with the eight highest-ranked representatives from the Gallagher Premiership, the Guinness PRO14 and the TOP 14 securing their places.
The clubs will be divided into two pools of 12 by means of a draw and the tournament will be played over eight weekends with four rounds of matches in the pool stage followed by a knockout stage consisting of home and away quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final in Marseille on 22 May 2021.
For the purposes of the pool draw, the clubs will be separated into tiers, and clubs from the same league in the same tier will not be drawn into the same pool. The number 1 and number 2 ranked clubs from each league will be in Tier 1, the number 3 and number 4 ranked clubs will be in Tier 2, the number 5 and 6 ranked clubs will be in Tier 3, and the number 7 and number 8 ranked clubs will be Tier 4.
The Tier 1 and the Tier 4 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league, will play one another home and away during the pool stage, as will the Tier 2 and Tier 3 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league.
The four highest-ranked clubs in each pool will qualify for the quarter-finals, and the clubs ranked numbers 5 to 8 in each pool will compete in the knockout stage of the Challenge Cup.
Who has qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup?
Guinness PRO14:
1 Leinster Rugby, 2 Ulster Rugby, 3 Edinburgh Rugby, 4 Munster Rugby, 5 Scarlets, 6 Connacht Rugby, 7 Glasgow Warriors, 8 Dragons
TOP 14:
1 Bordeaux-Bègles, 2 Lyon, 3 Racing 9,2 4 RC Toulon, 5 La Rochelle, 6 ASM Clermont Auvergne, 7 Toulouse, 8 Montpellier
English Premiership:
1 Exeter Chiefs, 2 Wasps; 3 Bristol Bears, 4 Bath Rugby, 5 Sale Sharks, 6 Harlequins, 7 Gloucester Rugby, 8 Northampton Saints
What are the benefits of the new format?
“With an expanded knockout stage and no repeats of domestic matches during the pool stage, this format creates brand new competitive opportunities for Europe’s elite clubs and their fans,” said EPCR Chairman, Simon Halliday.
“In this time of change, the Heineken Champions Cup with its global stars of the game, its passionate supporters and its unique match-day atmosphere undoubtedly remains The One to Win.”
When will the season take place?
Round 1: 11/12/13 December 2020
Round 2: 18/19/20 December 2020
Round 3: 15/16/17 January 2021
Round 4: 22/23/24 January 2021
Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals, 1st leg / Challenge Cup Round of 16: 2/3/4 April 2021
Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals, 2nd leg / Challenge Cup quarter-finals: 9/10/11 April 2021
Semi-finals: 30 April – 1/2 May 2021
Finals: 21 and 22 May 2021
