EPCR Challenge Cup
The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union club competition organized by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), functioning as the continent's premier second-tier European tournament behind the Investec Champions Cup.[1][2] Launched in the 1996–97 season as the European Challenge Cup (also known as the European Shield) to provide a competitive pathway for emerging and established clubs outside the top European elite, it has evolved through various sponsorship iterations—including the Parker Pen Challenge Cup (2001–2005) and Amlin Challenge Cup (2009–2014)—before adopting its current name under EPCR's governance starting in 2014.[3][2][4] The competition draws its 18 participating teams primarily from Europe's leading domestic leagues: England's Gallagher Premiership Rugby (typically six to seven clubs), France's Top 14 (six to seven clubs), and the United Rugby Championship (URC, featuring sides from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Italy, and South Africa, with four to five qualifiers).[2][5] Additional spots may go to invitational teams, such as Georgia's Black Lion, to broaden geographic representation.[6] Qualification is merit-based, with clubs earning entry through strong domestic performances but falling short of the Champions Cup threshold, ensuring a mix of competitive balance and developmental opportunities.[7] In its current multi-pool format, introduced for the 2023/24 season and retained for 2025/26, the 18 clubs are divided into three pools of six, with each team playing four pool matches (two home, two away) across December and January.[8] The top two teams from each pool, plus the best two third-placed sides, advance directly to the round of 16, joined by seeded teams from the Champions Cup pool stage; subsequent knockout rounds—including quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final in May—determine the champion at a neutral venue.[9] The winner secures automatic qualification to the following season's Investec Champions Cup, enhancing the tournament's prestige as a stepping stone to Europe's highest level.[10] Over nearly three decades, the EPCR Challenge Cup has crowned 19 different winners, underscoring its role in fostering diverse success stories.[11] Harlequins (England) and ASM Clermont Auvergne (France) share the record with three titles each, while recent victors include Bath Rugby in 2025, Hollywoodbets Sharks in 2024, and RC Toulon in 2023.[3][11][3] Notable for producing breakthrough performances—such as Lyon's first major trophy in 89 years in 2022—the competition has also integrated South African URC teams since 2021, expanding its global appeal and contributing to EPCR's mission of delivering high-quality rugby experiences.[12][1]Format
Qualification
The qualification process for the EPCR Challenge Cup grants entry to clubs based on their performance in the primary domestic leagues, specifically those that fail to secure spots in the higher-tier Investec Champions Cup. For the 2025/26 season, eight teams qualify from the United Rugby Championship (URC) comprising the clubs finishing 9th to 16th in the league standings after the top eight advance to the Champions Cup; six teams from the Top 14, consisting of those placed 9th to 14th; and two teams from Premiership Rugby, the 9th- and 10th-placed sides.[13][14] Up to two additional invitational spots are awarded at EPCR's discretion, typically including the winner of the European Rugby Continental Shield and a selected team such as Georgia's Black Lion to broaden participation.[6] This structure results in a total of 18 competing clubs for the 2025/26 season.[15] Seeding for the pool stage draw is determined using the EPCR European Rugby Club Rankings, which aggregate points from clubs' performances in the previous three seasons of EPCR competitions to assign tiers and avoid early matchups between top-ranked sides.[16]Pool stage
The pool stage of the EPCR Challenge Cup features 18 clubs divided into three pools of six teams each.[17] The pools are determined through a draw process that incorporates EPCR club rankings to ensure competitive balance, with restrictions such as a maximum of three clubs from the United Rugby Championship (URC) per pool and exactly two clubs from the Top 14 in each pool.[18] This structure accommodates the 18 participants, which include qualifiers from the Premiership Rugby, Top 14, and URC, along with two invitational teams.[19] Each team plays four matches during the pool stage—two at home and two away—against different opponents from their pool, spread across four rounds over eight weekends from early December 2025 to mid-January 2026.[17] The schedule begins with consecutive weekends in December, followed by rounds in January, allowing for a compact phase that aligns with domestic league calendars.[20] This format ensures each club faces a mix of opposition without playing all pool rivals, promoting strategic variety.[19] Points are awarded as follows: four for a win, two for a draw, with one bonus point for scoring four or more tries regardless of the result, and one additional bonus point for a loss by seven points or fewer.[17] These incentives encourage attacking play and reward competitive performances in close contests.[17] The top four teams from each pool advance to the round of 16 in the knockout stage, yielding 12 qualifiers who are joined by the four fifth-placed teams from the Investec Champions Cup pools to form a 16-team bracket.[17] Pool winners are seeded as the top three teams overall (ranks 1–3) based on their points and tiebreakers among themselves, while the remaining qualifiers are seeded 4–16 according to pool position and aggregate points.[17] This seeding determines home advantage and matchups in the round of 16.[17] In the event of tied points for pool standings or seeding, teams are ranked first by aggregate points difference, then by total tries scored; if still level, lots are drawn by an independent adjudicator.[17]Knockout stage
The knockout stage of the EPCR Challenge Cup begins after the pool stage and consists of single-elimination matches from the round of 16 through to the final, featuring the 16 qualified teams: the top four from each of the three pools (12 teams) and the four fifth-placed teams from the Investec Champions Cup pools.[21] These teams are ranked from 1 to 16 based on their pool stage performance, with pool winners seeded 1–3, runners-up 4–6, third-placed teams 7–9, fourth-placed teams 10–12, and the Champions Cup drop-down teams 13–16, using criteria such as match points, points difference, and tries scored.[22] In the round of 16, matchups are fixed by seeding (1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, 3 vs 14, 4 vs 13, 5 vs 12, 6 vs 11, 7 vs 10, and 8 vs 9), with the higher-seeded team hosting at their home venue to provide home advantage based on pool stage results.[23] The quarter-finals follow a predetermined bracket, pairing winners of specific round-of-16 ties (e.g., winner of 1/16 vs winner of 8/9), again with home advantage for the higher original seed.[22] Semi-final matchups are drawn openly after the quarter-finals, with an emphasis on regionalization to minimize travel costs and logistical burdens for clubs, particularly those from the same nation or region.[24] All matches prior to the final are single-leg knockout fixtures played over designated weekends in April and May. If a match ends in a draw after 80 minutes, two 10-minute periods of extra time are played under standard laws; if still tied, the team with the most tries from the entire match (including extra time) wins, or if equal, a sudden-death penalty shootout from 20 meters in front of the posts determines the victor, starting with five kicks per team and continuing alternately.[25] The final is contested at a neutral venue. If tied after 80 minutes, extra time and tiebreakers apply as in other knockout matches. The 2025/26 final is scheduled for 22 May 2026 at San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao.[8] This structure ensures a progressive elimination format that rewards strong pool stage performances with favorable seeding and home rights while culminating in a high-profile showpiece event.Format evolution
The EPCR Challenge Cup has experienced several structural modifications since its launch to adapt to expanding participation, integrate with the elite European competition, and address logistical challenges, while maintaining a balance between pool and knockout phases. The tournament began in the 1996–97 season with 24 teams divided into four pools of six, where each team played home and away matches against all others in their pool over 10 rounds. The top two teams from each pool qualified directly for the quarter-finals, resulting in eight teams advancing to the knockout stage.[26] From the 2009–10 season, the competition introduced play-off matches involving top Challenge Cup performers against teams from the Amlin Nations Cup to determine additional spots in the Heineken Cup, creating a clearer promotion pathway for second-tier clubs. The pool stage at that time involved 20 teams in five pools of four, with each team playing home and away against pool opponents; the pool winners and the three best-placed runners-up progressed to a last-16 knockout round. Following the 2014 rebranding under EPCR and the launch of the Champions Cup, the format shifted to 20 teams in five pools of four, with home and away pool matches. The top two teams from each pool and the three best third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16, joined by five teams dropping down from the Champions Cup based on their pool performance, thereby linking the two tournaments more closely.[27] The 2020–21 season saw temporary adjustments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the cancellation of the pool stage and a direct progression to a round of 16 with 16 seeded teams drawn based on their domestic league standings to ensure fairness; all matches were played without crowds in a condensed schedule across neutral or limited-venue sites. For the 2022/23 season, the format featured 20 teams divided into two pools of 10, with each club playing four pool matches; the top six teams from each pool advanced to the round of 16, joined by four teams dropping down from the Champions Cup. From the 2023/24 season onward, the structure adopted 18 teams in three pools of six, with each team playing four single-leg matches against selected opponents to promote cross-league rivalries and reduce fixture congestion; the top four teams from each pool (12 total) advance to the round of 16, joined by the four fifth-placed teams from the Champions Cup pools. For the 2025/26 season, the structure maintains the three pools of six teams, with each team playing four single-leg matches (two home, two away) against four different opponents in their pool, spanning eight weekends to align with international and domestic calendars; pool draws prioritize cross-border matchups to heighten rivalries and competitive balance, with the top four from each pool (12 teams total) advancing to the round of 16, joined by the four fifth-placed teams from the Champions Cup pools.[19][28]Records and statistics
List of finals
The EPCR Challenge Cup finals have been contested annually since the inaugural tournament in 1996–97, with the first final held in 1997. The list below details every final from 1997 to 2025, including the winner, runner-up, score, venue, and attendance where recorded.[3]
Early finals were often hosted at club grounds or regional stadiums in France and the UK, such as Les Sept Deniers in Toulouse for the 1998 and 2000 editions, reflecting the competition's initial European-wide scope under the European Rugby Cup. From the mid-2000s, venues shifted to neutral UK sites like the Madejski Stadium in Reading and the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, before the 2014 rebranding to EPCR Challenge Cup introduced more prominent neutral venues, including international stadiums like the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille (2010, 2022) and the Aviva Stadium in Dublin (2023). The 2025 final returned to Principality Stadium in Cardiff, continuing the trend of high-profile, neutral locations to boost accessibility and attendance.[3]
Attendance has varied significantly, starting modestly around 10,000 in the late 1990s and peaking at 51,431 for the 2022 Lyon vs. RC Toulon final at Stade Vélodrome, the highest on record. Low points included 6,000 in 2000 and 7,230 in 2005 at smaller UK venues, while post-2014 figures generally rose with larger stadiums, averaging 25,000–35,000 in recent years; the COVID-19 pandemic limited crowds to 1,000 in 2020 and 10,000 in 2021, but numbers rebounded to around 30,000–36,000 by 2023–2025.[3][29]
Notable results include the widest margin of victory, Colomiers' 43–5 defeat of Agen in 1998 (38 points), and several close contests like the 2004 Harlequins vs. AS Montferrand 27–26 thriller. No team has achieved an undefeated streak across multiple finals, but RC Toulon appeared in five finals (losses in 2009–10, 2011–12, 2019–20, 2021–22; win in 2022–23). Since the 2014 EPCR era, finals have increasingly featured teams crossing over from the Champions Cup, such as Montpellier (2016, 2021) and Toulon (2023), highlighting the competition's role as a secondary European pathway for clubs.[3]
Wins by club
Harlequins and ASM Clermont Auvergne share the record for the most EPCR Challenge Cup titles, with three each. Harlequins won in the 2000–01, 2003–04, and 2010–11 seasons, while Clermont (formerly known as AS Montferrand) triumphed in 1998–99, 2006–07, and 2018–19. Several other clubs have secured two titles apiece, including Bath Rugby (2007–08 and 2024–25), Cardiff Blues (2009–10 and 2017–18), Gloucester Rugby (2005–06 and 2014–15), Montpellier Hérault Rugby (2015–16 and 2020–21), Northampton Saints (2008–09 and 2013–14), and Sale Sharks (2001–02 and 2004–05). In total, 19 different clubs have won the competition since its inception in 1996–97.[30] The table below ranks clubs by the number of titles won, listing the seasons of their victories.| Club | Titles | Seasons Won |
|---|---|---|
| Harlequins | 3 | 2000–01, 2003–04, 2010–11 |
| ASM Clermont Auvergne | 3 | 1998–99, 2006–07, 2018–19 |
| Bath Rugby | 2 | 2007–08, 2024–25 |
| Cardiff Blues | 2 | 2009–10, 2017–18 |
| Gloucester Rugby | 2 | 2005–06, 2014–15 |
| Montpellier Hérault Rugby | 2 | 2015–16, 2020–21 |
| Northampton Saints | 2 | 2008–09, 2013–14 |
| Sale Sharks | 2 | 2001–02, 2004–05 |
| Biarritz Olympique | 1 | 2011–12 |
| Bristol Bears | 1 | 2019–20 |
| CS Bourgoin-Jallieu | 1 | 1996–97 |
| Leinster Rugby | 1 | 2012–13 |
| Lyon OU | 1 | 2021–22 |
| Hollywoodbets Sharks | 1 | 2023–24 |
| RC Toulon | 1 | 2022–23 |
| Stade Français | 1 | 2016–17 |
| Section Paloise | 1 | 1999–00 |
| US Colomiers | 1 | 1997–98 |
| Wasps Rugby | 1 | 2002–03 |
Wins by nation
English and French clubs have dominated the EPCR Challenge Cup since its inception in 1996, collectively accounting for 25 of the 29 titles awarded through the 2025 final.[3] English teams hold a slight edge with 13 victories, reflecting the depth of the English Premiership, while French sides from the Top 14 have secured 12 triumphs, underscoring their consistent competitiveness in European competitions.[30]| Nation | Titles | Winning Clubs (Examples) |
|---|---|---|
| England | 13 | Harlequins (3), Gloucester (2), Sale Sharks (2), Northampton Saints (2) |
| France | 12 | Clermont Auvergne (3), Montpellier (2), Toulon (1), Lyon (1) |
| Wales | 2 | Cardiff Blues (2) |
| Ireland | 1 | Leinster (1) |
| South Africa | 1 | Sharks (1) |
| Italy | 0 | None |