2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup

The 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the 2024–25 Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the eleventh season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) for professional clubs. It is the 30th season of the pan-European professional club rugby competition and the second season in which Investec are named as title sponsors.

For the first time since its 1995 founding (as the Heineken Cup), no Welsh teams are playing in the ERCC, as none of them finished in the top seven of the 2023–24 United Rugby Championship.^[1] The final will be played at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.^[2][3]

Stade Toulousain, also known as simply Toulouse, enter the competition as defending champions, seeking a record seventh title. Leinster Rugby, beaten finalists in the past three editions, seek a record fourth consecutive final, and to become the second team after Toulouse to win a fifth Champions Cup.

Twenty-four clubs from the three major European domestic and regional leagues will qualify to compete in the 2024–25 edition of the Champions Cup.^[4]

The distribution of teams is:

• England: eight clubs
  • The top eight clubs from the 2023–24 Premiership.
• France: eight clubs
  • The top eight clubs from the 2023–24 Top 14. The European champions, Toulouse qualified in the top eight of the French league.
• Ireland, Italy, Scotland and South Africa: eight clubs
  • The top seven sides from the 2023–24 United Rugby Championship.
  • The champions of the 2023–24 Challenge Cup (Sharks), who displaced the eighth-placed side in the URC (Ospreys) to take the final qualification spot.^[5]

Premiership	Top 14	United Rugby Championship
England	France	Ireland	Italy	Scotland	South Africa
Bath Bristol Bears Exeter Chiefs Harlequins Leicester Tigers Northampton Saints Sale Sharks Saracens	Bordeaux Castres Clermont La Rochelle Racing 92 Stade Français Toulon Toulouse	Leinster Munster Ulster	Benetton	Glasgow Warriors	Bulls Sharks Stormers

Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.

Note: Placing shown in brackets, denotes standing at the end of the regular season for their respective leagues, with their end of season positioning shown through CH for Champions, RU for Runner-up, SF for losing Semi-finalist, and QF for losing Quarter-finalist.

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 (2nd) (RU)
Benetton	Marco Bortolami	Michele Lamaro	Stadio Comunale di Monigo	5,000	URC top 8 (7th) (QF)
Bordeaux	Yannick Bru	Jefferson Poirot	Stade Chaban-Delmas	34,694	Top 14 top 8 (3rd) (RU)
Bristol Bears	Pat Lam	Fitz Harding	Ashton Gate	27,000	Premiership top 8 (5th)
Bulls	Jake White	Marcell Coetzee	Loftus Versfeld	51,762	URC top 8 (2nd) (RU)
Castres	Jeremy Davidson	Mathieu Babillot	Stade Pierre-Fabre	12,500	Top 14 top 8 (7th)
Clermont	Christophe Urios	Baptiste Jauneau	Stade Marcel-Michelin	19,022	Top 14 top 8 (8th)
Exeter Chiefs	Rob Baxter	Dafydd Jenkins	Sandy Park	13,593	Premiership top 8 (7th)
Glasgow Warriors	Franco Smith	Kyle Steyn	Scotstoun Stadium	7,351	URC top 8 (4th) (CH)
Harlequins	Billy Millard	Alex Dombrandt	Twickenham Stoop	14,800	Premiership top 8 (6th)
La Rochelle	Ronan O'Gara	Grégory Alldritt	Stade Marcel-Deflandre	16,700	Top 14 top 8 (5th) (SF)
Leicester Tigers	Michael Cheika	Julián Montoya	Welford Road Stadium	25,849	Premiership top 8 (8th)
Leinster	Leo Cullen	Caelan Doris	Aviva Stadium	51,700	URC top 8 (3rd) (SF)
Munster	Ian Costello	Tadhg Beirne	Thomond Park	25,600	URC top 8 (1st) (SF)
Northampton Saints	Phil Dowson	George Furbank	Franklin's Gardens	15,200	Premiership top 8 (1st) (CH)
Racing 92	Stuart Lancaster	Henry Chavancy	Paris La Défense Arena	32,000	Top 14 top 8 (6th) (QF)
Sale Sharks	Alex Sanderson	Ben Curry	Salford Community Stadium	12,000	Premiership top 8 (3rd) (SF)
Saracens	Mark McCall	Maro Itoje	StoneX Stadium	10,500	Premiership top 8 (4th) (SF)
Sharks	John Plumtree	Lukhanyo Am	Kings Park Stadium	52,000	Challenge Cup Champions
Stade Français	Laurent Labit	Paul Gabrillagues	Stade Jean-Bouin	20,000	Top 14 top 8 (2nd) (SF)
Stormers	John Dobson	Salmaan Moerat	Cape Town Stadium	55,000	URC top 8 (5th) (QF)
Toulon	Pierre Mignoni	Charles Ollivon	Stade Mayol	17,500	Top 14 top 8 (4th) (QF)
Toulouse	Ugo Mola	Antoine Dupont	Stade Ernest-Wallon	19,500	Top 14 top 8 (1st) (CH)
Ulster	Richie Murphy	Iain Henderson	Ravenhill Stadium	18,196	URC top 8 (6th) (QF)

Teams were drawn into pools in Cardiff on 2 July 2024.^[3] Teams are awarded four points for a win, two for a draw, one for scoring four tries in a game, and one for losing by less than eight points.

The format is, once again, a modified round robin. Each pool consists of six teams, two from each of the three contributing leagues. Each team plays the four teams not from its own league once, with one game away to each league and one game at home. Teams do not play their league partners at this stage. The top four teams go to the first knock out round, 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.

[[File:

Bath

Bristol

Exeter

Leicester

Northampton

Sale

London
(see map below)

Clermont

Castres

Toulon

Stade Français

Racing 92

La Rochelle

Toulouse

Bordeaux

Leinster

Munster

Benetton

Ulster

Glasgow

class=notpageimage|

Locations

|1300px|alt=Locations of the Europe-based teams of the 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage.
Red: Pool 1; Blue: Pool 2; Green: Pool 3; Yellow: Pool 4.]]

[[:File:

Bath

Bristol

Exeter

Leicester

Northampton

Sale

London
(see map below)

Clermont

Castres

Toulon

Stade Français

Racing 92

La Rochelle

Toulouse

Bordeaux

Leinster

Munster

Benetton

Ulster

Glasgow

class=notpageimage|

Locations

| ]]

Locations of the Europe-based teams of the 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage.
Red: Pool 1; Blue: Pool 2; Green: Pool 3; Yellow: Pool 4.

Harlequins

Saracens

class=notpageimage|

Locations of London teams of the 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage.
Green: Pool 3; Yellow: Pool 4.

Bulls

Sharks

Stormers

class=notpageimage|

Locations of South African teams of the 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage.
Red: Pool 1; Green: Pool 3; Yellow: Pool 4.

European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Bordeaux (1)	4	4	0	0	217	76	+141	33	12	4	0	20	Home Champions Cup round of 16.
2	Toulouse (5)	4	4	0	0	225	62	+163	33	9	3	0	19
3	Leicester Tigers (10)	4	2	0	2	134	149	−15	20	21	3	0	11	Away Champions Cup round of 16.
4	Ulster (16)	4	1	0	3	102	163	−61	15	24	1	0	5
5	Sharks (12CC)	4	1	0	3	76	163	−87	10	23	1	0	5	Away Challenge Cup round of 16.
6	Exeter Chiefs	4	0	0	4	83	224	−141	13	34	1	0	1

European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Leinster (2)	4	4	0	0	113	54	+59	15	7	2	0	18	Home Champions Cup round of 16.
2	La Rochelle (8)	4	2	0	2	98	75	+23	12	6	1	2	11
3	Benetton (11)	4	2	0	2	83	109	−26	11	14	2	1	11	Away Champions Cup round of 16.
4	Clermont (14)	4	2	0	2	89	81	+8	13	12	2	0	10
5	Bath (10CC)	4	1	0	3	102	114	−12	14	16	1	2	7	Away Challenge Cup round of 16.
6	Bristol Bears	4	1	0	3	80	132	−52	12	20	2	1	7

European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Northampton Saints (3)	4	3	0	1	137	106	+31	20	15	4	0	16	Home Champions Cup round of 16.
2	Castres (6)	4	3	0	1	105	86	+19	13	13	2	0	14
3	Munster (9)	4	2	0	2	96	69	+27	13	7	2	2	12	Away Champions Cup round of 16.
4	Saracens (13)	4	2	0	2	91	71	+20	11	9	2	1	11
5	Bulls (11CC)	4	1	0	3	84	113	−29	12	15	1	0	5	Away Challenge Cup round of 16.
6	Stade Français	4	1	0	3	76	144	−68	11	21	1	0	5

European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Toulon (4)	4	3	0	1	94	94	0	12	14	1	0	13	Home Champions Cup round of 16.
2	Glasgow Warriors (7)	4	2	0	2	103	92	+11	16	12	3	1	12
3	Sale Sharks (12)	4	2	0	2	81	92	−11	12	14	2	0	10	Away Champions Cup round of 16.
4	Harlequins (15)	4	2	0	2	110	79	+31	16	10	1	0	9
5	Racing 92 (9CC)	4	2	0	2	80	92	−12	12	14	1	0	9	Away Challenge Cup round of 16.
6	Stormers	4	1	0	3	92	108	−16	12	16	1	0	5

The knockout stage follows the same format as used in previous years, which begins with a single-leg round of 16, starting on 4 April 2025. This round is followed by the quarter-finals and semi-finals, before the tournament concludes with the final at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on 24 May 2025.

All clubs are thereafter 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 are 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 in 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.^[10]

Rank	Team	Pts	Diff	TF
Pool leaders
1	Bordeaux	20	+141	33
2	Leinster	18	+59	18
3	Northampton Saints	16	+31	20
4	Toulon	13	0	12
Pool runners-up
5	Toulouse	19	+163	33
6	Castres	14	+19	13
7	Glasgow Warriors	12	+11	16
8	La Rochelle	11	+23	12
Pool third place
9	Munster	12	+27	13
10	Leicester Tigers	11	–15	20
11	Benetton	11	–26	11
12	Sale Sharks	10	–11	12
Pool fourth place
13	Saracens	11	+20	11
14	Clermont	10	+8	13
15	Harlequins	9	+31	16
16	Ulster	5	–61	15

	Round of 16					Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1	Bordeaux	43
	16	Ulster	31
						1	Bordeaux	47
						9	Munster	29
	8	La Rochelle	24
	9	Munster	25
											1	Bordeaux
											5	Toulouse
	4	Toulon	72
	13	Saracens	42
						4	Toulon	18
						5	Toulouse	21
	5	Toulouse	38
	12	Sale Sharks	15
	2	Leinster	62
	15	Harlequins	0
						2	Leinster	52
						7	Glasgow Warriors	0
	7	Glasgow Warriors	43
	10	Leicester Tigers	19
											2	Leinster
											3	Northampton Saints
	3	Northampton Saints	46
	14	Clermont	24
						3	Northampton Saints	51
						6	Castres	16
	6	Castres	39
	11	Benetton	37

4 April 2025 20:00

Northampton Saints (3)	46–24	(14) Clermont
Try: F. Smith 18' c Freeman (3) 23' m, 29' m, 60' m Augustus (2) 41' c, 46' c Pollock 71' c Con: F. Smith (4/7) 19', 42', 47', 72' Pen: F. Smith (1/1) 15'	Report	Try: Moala 11' c Raka 49' c Fainga'a 55' c Con: Belleau (3/3) 12', 50', 56' Pen: Belleau (1/1) 41'

cinch Stadium @ Franklin's Gardens, Northampton Attendance: 13,481 Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

5 April 2025 13:30

Toulon (4)	72–42	(13) Saracens
Try: Wainiqolo 5' c Isa (3) 35' c, 55' c, 59' c Jaminet (2) 39' c, 70' m Alainu'uese 44' m Fainga'anuku 62' c Serin 74' c Tuicuvu 76' c Con: Jaminet (8/10) 6', 35', 40', 55', 60', 63', 75', 77' Pen: Jaminet (2/2) 12', 14'	Report	Try: González (2) 3' c, 22' c Tompkins 7' c Hartley 16' c van Zyl 31' c Hadfield 65' c Con: Burke (6/6) 4', 8', 17', 23', 32', 66'

Stade Mayol, Toulon Attendance: 15,733 Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)

5 April 2025 15:00

Leinster (2)	62–0	(15) Harlequins
Try: Prendergast 14' m J. McCarthy 17' c J. Osborne 27' c van der Flier 44' m Ringrose 47' c Sheehan 58' m Penalty try 66' R. Byrne 71' c Lowe (2) 77' m, 80' c Con: Prendergast (3/6) 17', 27', 48' R. Byrne (2/3) 72', 80'	Report

Croke Park, Dublin Attendance: 55,627 Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)

5 April 2025 16:00

Castres (6)	39–37	(11) Benetton
Try: Baget (2) 2' c, 22' m Chabouni 16' c Babillot 39' m Ambadiang 64' m Fernandez 78' c Con: Le Brun (2/4) 3', 17' Fernandez (1/2) 79' Pen: Le Brun (1/2) 47'	Report	Try: Gallo 4' c Mendy 32' m Brex 35' c Bernasconi 43' m Odogwu 57' c Con: Albornoz (3/5) 5', 36', 58' Pen: Albornoz (2/2) 7', 62'

Stade Pierre-Fabre, Castres Attendance: 12,258 Referee: Karl Dickson (England)

5 April 2025 18:30

La Rochelle (8)	24–25	(9) Munster
Try: Botia 10' c Penalty try 65' Bosmorin 76' c Con: West (1/1) 11' Hastoy (1/1) 76' Pen: West (1/1) 42'	Report	Try: Casey 24' c Coombes 47' c A. Smith 51' m Con: Crowley (2/3) 24', 48' Pen: Crowley (1/1) 41' Drop: Crowley 68'

Stade Marcel-Deflandre, La Rochelle Attendance: 16,700 Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)

5 April 2025 20:00

Glasgow Warriors (7)	43–19	(10) Leicester Tigers
Try: Venter (2) 13' c, 74' m Vailanu (2) 18' c, 41' c Hastings 49' c Horne 50' c Con: Hastings (5/6) 14', 19', 42', 50', 51' Pen: Hastings (1/1) 42'	Report	Try: Cracknell 2' m Kata 56' c Liebenberg 66' c Con: Pollard (2/3) 59', 67'

Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Attendance: 7,321 Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)

6 April 2025 13:30

Bordeaux (1)	43–31	(16) Ulster
Try: Penaud 6' c Tameifuna 15' c Coleman 20' c Buros 40' c Lamothe 50' m Janse van Rensburg 70' c Con: Carbery (4/5) 6', 16', 21', 40+1' Jalibert (1/1) 71' Pen: Lucu (1/1) 46'	Report	Try: O'Toole 28' c McCann 35' c Timoney 55' m Ward (2) 63' m, 75' c Con: Cooney (2/2) 29', 37' Doak (1/3) 76'

Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux Attendance: 32,275 Referee: Luke Pearce (England)

6 April 2025 16:00

Toulouse (5)	38–15	(12) Sale Sharks
Try: Willis 1' c Cros 45' c Marchand 58' c Capuozzo 73' c Cramont 76' c Con: Ramos (5/5) 2', 46', 59', 74', 77' Pen: Ramos (1/1) 35'	Report	Try: L. James 4' m Hill 29' c Con: Ford (1/2) 30' Pen: Ford (1/1) 21'

Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse Attendance: 31,737 Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

11 April 2025 20:00

Leinster (2)	52–0	(7) Glasgow Warriors
Try: Deegan (2) 13' c, 75' m Penalty try 22' Lowe 24' m T. O'Brien 29' c Keenan 33' c Ringrose 46' c Sheehan 57' c Con: Prendergast (5/6) 14', 30', 34', 47', 58'	Report

Aviva Stadium, Dublin Attendance: 22,400 Referee: Luke Pearce (England)

12 April 2025 16:00

Bordeaux (1)	47–29	(9) Munster
Try: Penaud 5' m Lucu 12' c Samu 24' c Echegaray 33' c Lamothe 56' m Bielle-Biarrey 77' c Con: Jalibert (3/5) 13', 25', 34' Lucu (1/1) 78' Pen: Jalibert (3/5) 11', 53', 76'	Report	Try: Nankivell 43' m A. Smith (2) 50' m, 72' c Penalty try 67' Con: Crowley (2/3) 33', 73' Pen: Crowley (1/1) 9'

Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux Attendance: 32,215 Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)

12 April 2025 17:30

Northampton Saints (3)	51–16	(6) Castres
Try: Freeman 6' c Langdon 13' m Coles 31' m Furbank 44' c Pollock (2) 47' c, 61' c Pearson 77' c Con: F. Smith (5/7) 7', 44', 47', 61', 77' Pen: F. Smith (2/2) 52', 68'	Report	Try: Fernandez 35' c Con: Fernandez (1/1) 36' Pen: Fernandez (3/3) 9', 39', 42

cinch Stadium @ Franklin's Gardens, Northampton Attendance: 11,673 Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)

13 April 2025 16:00

Toulon (4)	18–21	(5) Toulouse
Pen: Jaminet (6/6) 12', 23', 28', 31', 59', 62'	Report	Try: Willis 42' m Ahki 50' c Con: Ramos (1/2) 51' Pen: Ramos (3/5) 10', 41', 80'

Stade Mayol, Toulon Attendance: 16,490 Referee: Matthew Carley (England)

3 May 2025 17:30

Leinster (2)	v	(3) Northampton Saints

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

4 May 2025 16:00

Bordeaux (1)	v	(5) Toulouse

Matmut Atlantique, Bordeaux

24 May 2025 14:45 BST (UTC+01)

	v

Principality Stadium, Cardiff

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Most points As of 13 April 2025 Source:[11] Rank Player Club Points 1 Thomas Ramos Toulouse 87 2 Sam Prendergast Leinster 65 3 Matthieu Jalibert Bordeaux 64 4 Damian Penaud Bordeaux 60 5 Fin Smith Northampton 59

Most tries As of 13 April 2025 Source:[11] Rank Player Club Tries 1 Damian Penaud Bordeaux 12 2 Tommy Freeman Northampton 6 Henry Pollock Northampton Louis Bielle-Biarrey Bordeaux 5 Emmanuel Meafou Toulouse 5 Ange Capuozzo Toulouse Juarno Augustus Northampton Rémy Baget Castres

Player	Match[N 1]	Citing date	Law breached	Result	Refs
Pierre-Henri Azagoh	Munster vs. Stade Français (Round 1 – 7 December 2024)	10 December 2024	9.13 – Dangerous Tackling (Red card)	3-match ban[N 2]	[14] [15]
Baptiste Pesenti	Munster vs. Stade Français (Round 1 – 7 December 2024)	10 December 2024	9.13 – Dangerous Tackling (Red card)	2-match ban	[14] [16]
Yannick Youyoutte	Stormers vs. Toulon (Round 1 – 7 December 2024)	11 December 2024	9.13 – Dangerous Tackling (Red card)	5-match ban[N 2]	[14] [17]
Sekou Macalou	Stade Français vs. Saracens (Round 2 – 15 December 2024)	17 December 2024	9.13 – Dangerous Tackling (Red card)	3-match ban	[18] [19]
Stafford McDowall	Toulon vs. Glasgow (Round 2 – 15 December 2024)	19 December 2024	9.12 – Contact with Eye Area (Citing)	3-match ban	[18] [20]
Toma'akino Taufa	Exeter vs. Bordeaux (Round 3 – 11 January 2025)	16 January 2025	9.13 – Dangerous Tackling (Red card)	3-match ban[N 2]	[21]
Giorgi Akhaladze	Bath vs. Clermont (Round 3 – 12 January 2025)	16 January 2025	9.13 – Dangerous Tackling (Red card)	4-match ban	[22]
Beno Obano	Leinster vs. Bath (Round 4 – 18 January 2025)	21 January 2025	9.27 – 2 Yellow Cards (Red card)	Sending off sufficient	[23]
Will Goodrick-Clarke	Ulster vs. Exeter (Round 4 – 17 January 2025)	22 January 2025	9.12 – Stamp/Trample (Citing)	1-match ban	[24]
Hakeem Kunene	Bordeaux vs. Sharks (Round 4 – 19 January 2025)	22 January 2025	9.13 – Dangerous Tackling (Citing)	3-match ban[N 2]	[25]

Notes: