Dec 21, TBD
Ulster vs Munster
Dec 21, TBD
DHL Stormers vs Lions
Dec 21, 1:00 PM UTC
Benetton vs Zebre Parma
Dec 21, 1:30 PM UTC
Stade Rochelais vs ASM-Rugby
Dec 21, 3:00 PM UTC
Sharks vs Vodacom Bulls
Dec 21, 3:30 PM UTC
RC Vannes vs Aviron Bayonnais
Dec 21, 3:30 PM UTC
RC Toulonnais vs Section Paloise
Dec 21, 3:30 PM UTC
Stade Francais vs Perpignan
Dec 21, 3:30 PM UTC
MHR vs Racing 92
Dec 21, 5:15 PM UTC
Glasgow Warriors vs Edinburgh
Dec 21, 8:05 PM UTC
Castres Olympique vs Union Bordeaux
Dec 22, 8:05 PM UTC
Lyon OU vs Stade Toulousain
Dec 26, TBD
Leinster vs Connacht
Dec 26, 3:00 PM UTC
Dragons vs Cardiff
Dec 26, 5:15 PM UTC
Ospreys vs Scarlets
2024 Bath Rugby vs Stade Rochelais

1 Big Thing To Know About Each Investec Champions Cup Pool

1 Big Thing To Know About Each Investec Champions Cup Pool

The Investec Champions Cup 2024-2025 season begins Dec. 6. Here is one big thing to know about each Champions Cup pool.

Dec 5, 2024 by Briar Napier
What's The Best Stadium In the Champions Cup?

The most esteemed club rugby competition in the world finally is back.

The best of the best from last season in England’s Premiership, France’s Top 14 and the multinational United Rugby Championship are grouped together in four pools to kick off the pool stage of the 2024-2025 Investec Champions Cup, with European/South African club rugby’s biggest prize up for grabs over the course of the next several months.

Toulouse is back as defending champion, though multiple heavy hitters from all across the globe will be aiming to knock the French juggernauts off of their perch. 

The party officially gets started with the first pool-stage fixtures this weekend, and we can’t wait to watch all the action and drama unfold live, and exclusively, in the United States on FloRugby.

Here’s a look ahead at one big thing to look out for in each pool of Champions Cup play as the 2024-2025 competition gets underway this weekend:

Pool 1: Time For Another Toulouse Masterclass?

No surprise, Europe’s most successful rugby club and a record six-time Champions Cup winner — a record it extended last season when it took the final over Leinster in London — is back again to try and add to its ever-growing trophy haul as one of the competition’s main favorites.

For the third time in its history last season (and second time in the past four years), Toulouse captured the domestic-European double by winning both the Top 14 and Champions Cup titles. Last year also included a perfect finish on the continental scene by winning all eight of its Champions Cup matches throughout pool play and the knockout rounds. 

It was an absolutely stunning season, even by Toulouse’s lofty standards, but one thing has evaded the French giants on the Champions Cup scene: winning back-to-back titles.

Rival La Rochelle won two straight Champions Cup titles in 2022 and 2023, but Toulouse (which enters pool play as the leader in the Top 14 with eight wins from 11 matches) has never been able to pull off the feat.

A potentially favorable Pool 1, in which it won’t need to face fellow French foe Bordeaux and has home fixtures against Ulster and the Leicester Tigers, could set up Toulouse well for a potentially favorable playoff path, maybe even with home-pitch advantage throughout the knockout rounds, if Toulouse really dominates the pool stage.

Holding the world’s best player (Antoine Dupont) and a plethora of other weapons at its disposal, Toulouse won’t be shy of options to turn to in the hunt for Champions Cup No. 7.

Pool 2: Can Bath Rugby Break Through In A Pool Of Giants?

Sure, if you want a dose of star power in your Champions Cup watching, look no further than Pool 2, which features two clubs (Leinster and La Rochelle) that have seen vast success, with at least one making the Champions Cup final in each of the past four competitions.

But if you want a “Cinderella” story to potentially root on, look no further than Bath from the Premiership.

Just over two years ago, one of the oldest and most successful clubs in the history of English rugby was saved from being relegated from the top flight for the first time thanks to a pandemic-era moratorium on relegation, rescuing the team from a last-place finish in the 2021-2022 league table. 

Former Munster boss Johann van Graan then took over to try and steer the club back in the right direction, and he’s done exactly that. 

Bath finished eighth and qualified for the Champions Cup in his first season in charge, then finished as runner-up in both the regular-season table and the playoffs the next season, as they qualified for their first Premiership final in nine years. 

Nowadays, Bath enters Champions Cup play at the top of the Premiership (even on points with the Bristol Bears), as it has taken six wins from seven to start the domestic season.

Bath is by no means a minnow; it’s a former Champions Cup winner (1997-98) and a six-time Premiership champion, though its last major honour was a Challenge Cup win in 2007-08. But with similar names having shown up to the Champions Cup final over the past four seasons, perhaps Bath has something up its sleeve to try and break up the monotony.

Pool 3: Are Bulls The South African Side To Beat?

As South African teams are newer to the Champions Cup field compared to their European counterparts (they became eligible for qualification to the Champions Cup/Challenge Cup once four teams from the country joined the United Rugby Championship in 2021-2022), they have yet to make a mark in the grandest club rugby competition on Earth.

The Bulls are setting out to change that.

Looking to bounce back from a disappointing quarterfinal exit from the Champions Cup a season ago, in which they conceded a club-record 59 points to the Northampton Saints, the Bulls (last season’s URC runners-up) are without a major trophy since the 2010 season, when they were in Super Rugby and won the final there. 

Since they joined the URC, the closest they’ve been to European glory was when they lost the Pro14 Rainbow Cup in 2021 to Benetton. 

Placed third in the URC table, the Bulls (who like the rest of their South African counterparts have played one fewer match than their non-South African peers in the league due to Currie Cup conflicts in Round 1) are South Africa’s biggest threat on paper to break through and finally bring home a Champions Cup trophy to the country.

No Kurt-Lee Arendse — who is on a sabbatical playing in Japan for the rest of the season — will hurt their back line, but a deep squad means the Bulls will have their pick of options to replace the Springboks speedster.

Oh, and the elevation in Pretoria arguably makes for the Champions Cup’s best home advantage, too, though the Bulls will need to maximize point tallies at Loftus Versfeld, as coach Jake White often heavily rotates his first team for away fixtures, which could hamper the Bulls’ positioning for the knockout rounds should they qualify.

Pool 4: Are The Glasgow Warriors Scotland’s Best Hope Yet?

Since the Champions Cup kicked off in the 1995-1996 season, no Scottish team has ever made the final.

But the Champions Cup potentially has never seen a Scottish side like this year’s Glasgow Warriors.

In line with the national team’s ongoing “golden generation,” which took it to an all-time best world ranking of fifth last season (plus a Six Nations win over England earlier this year), many of the same names who have helped make the Scottish national team dangerous have done the same at club level with the Warriors. 

Case in point: Glasgow not only won the United Rugby Championship title over the Bulls last season for its second major trophy of the professional era, but did it in front of over 50,000 spectators at a raucous Loftus Versfeld while coming back from an early 13-0 deficit in the final. 

The team’s run of domestic form hasn’t slowed down with a new URC season, either, with the Warriors second in the league table going into Champions Cup pool play only behind a barn burning Leinster squad that’s been eating up wins and bonus points left and right.

Pool 4 is very much winnable for the Warriors, who do need to go abroad to face Toulon and Harlequins (which eliminated them in the Round of 16 a season ago) but get home fixtures against the Sale Sharks and Racing 92, too. If Glasgow plays its cards right, a path for a first Champions Cup quarterfinal trip since 2018-19 — or better — is very much on the table.

Having big-time performances under pressure and adversity is exactly the formula that a club needs in order to make it in the Champions Cup, and Glasgow through its URC run last season has already proven already that it can rise to the occasion.

Investec Champions Cup Fixture And Rugby Schedule

Here is the complete Investec Champions Cup schedule:

Investec Champions Cup 2024-2025 Round 1

Investec Champions Cup 2024-2025  Round 2

Investec Champions Cup 2024-2025 Round 3

Investec Champions Cup 2024-2025 Round 4

Investec Champions Cup Format 

Key points of the 2024-2025 Investec Champions Cup:

  • A multi-pool format, as launched in the 2023-2024 season
  • 24 elite clubs - eight each from the Gallagher Premiership, URC and TOP 14 - in four pools of six
  • Sporting jeopardy, with each club playing against four different opponents, home or away, in the pool stage
  • Four highest-ranked clubs in each pool qualify for the Round of 16
  • The Investec Champions Cup will be played over eight weekends, with four pool rounds and four knockout rounds culminating in the 2025 final, which will be staged at Cardiff's Principality Stadium on Saturday, May 24.

Investec Champions Cup Weekends

  • Round 1 – 6/7/8 December 2024
  • Round 2 – 13/14/15 December 2024
  • Round 3 – 10/11/12 January 2025
  • Round 4 – 17/18/19 January 2025
  • Round of 16 – 4/5/6 April 2025
  • Quarter-finals – 11/12/13 April 2025
  • Semi-finals – 2/3/4 May 2025
  • 2025 Investec Champions Cup final – Saturday, May 24, Principality Stadium, Cardiff

Champions Cup Qualifications 

Twenty-four clubs have qualified for the 2024-2025 Investec Champions Cup as follows:

  • United Rugby Championship (8): The eight highest-ranked clubs based on their final finishing positions.
  • TOP 14 (8): The eight highest-ranked clubs based on their final finishing positions.
  • Gallagher Premiership Rugby (8): The eight highest-ranked clubs based on their final finishing positions.
  • If not already qualified, the winner of the 2024 Investec Champions Cup will take the place of the eighth-ranked club in its league.

Investec Champions Cup Qualifiers 

  • TOP 14 – Stade Toulousain, Union Bordeaux-Bègles, Stade Français Paris, RC Toulon, Stade Rochelais, Racing 92, Castres Olympique, ASM Clermont Auvergne
  • GALLAGHER PREMIERSHIP – Northampton Saints, Bath Rugby, Sale Sharks, Saracens, Bristol Bears, Harlequins, Exeter Chiefs, Leicester Tigers
  • UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP – Glasgow Warriors, Vodacom Bulls, Munster Rugby, Leinster Rugby, DHL Stormers, Ulster Rugby, Benetton Rugby, Hollywoodbets Sharks

When Does The 2024-2025 Investec Champions Cup Begin? When Is The Champions Cup Final?

The Investec Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup begin Dec. 6, and the four-round pool-play action ends Jan. 19, 2025. The Round of 16 starts on April 4, while the quarterfinals are April 11-13. The semifinals are May 2-4. 

The EPCR Championships weekend is in Cardiff, Wales at Principality Stadium. There are championship games on May 23 (EPCR Challenge Cup) and May 24 (Investec Champions Cup). 

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