Champions Cup and Challenge Cup take on new formats this season due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic; teams will only have two opponents in the group stages who they play home and away; tournament finals take place on the same weekend in May at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille
Friday 11 December 2020 06:02, UK
The Heineken Champions Cup kicks off on Friday night when Northampton host Bordeaux-Begles at Franklin's Gardens in a new-look format for the competition.
Due to the impact of coronavirus on the season's fixtures, European Professional Club Rugby has changed the configuration of the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup for the 2020/21 campaign.
There are 24 teams in the Champions Cup, made up of the top eight teams from the Premiership, the PRO14 and Top 14. In the case of the Top 14, the top-eight rankings were decided by how the standings finished in March, when the season was ended due to the pandemic.
The same was the case for the PRO14, with the top four teams from each group in March - when the season was suspended - making it into the Champions Cup. The South African sides were not eligible.
The Premiership's places were taken by the final standings at the end of the interrupted season.
The teams were put into four tiers; the top two from each league in tier one, third and fourth from each league in tier two, and so on.
The teams were then drawn into two pools on October 28. Each pool got one team from each league in each tier, which ended with the following groupings:
Pool A
Tier one: Bordeaux-Bègles
Tier one: Leinster
Tier one: Wasps
Tier two: Bath
Tier two: Edinburgh
Tier two: Toulon
Tier three: La Rochelle
Tier three: Sale Sharks
Tier three: Scarlets
Tier four: Dragons
Tier four: Montpellier
Tier four: Northampton Saints
Pool B
Tier one: Exeter Chiefs
Tier one: Lyon
Tier one: Ulster
Tier two: Bristol Bears
Tier two: Munster
Tier two: Racing 92
Tier three: Clermont Auvergne
Tier three: Connacht
Tier three: Harlequins
Tier four: Glasgow Warriors
Tier four: Gloucester
Tier four: Toulouse
In terms of fixtures, teams from tier one will only play against teams in tier four in their own pool, and teams in tier two will only play teams in tier three in their own pool. However, no team will play a team from their own league, only the two from outside their league in a home and away format.
For example, as the tier one side in Pool A from the PRO14, Leinster will play the tier four sides in Pool A from the Top 14 and the Premiership, so Leinster's two opponents are Northampton and Montpellier.
As the tier two side in Pool B from the Premiership, Bristol play the tier three sides in Pool B from the PRO14 and the Top 14, so the Bears' two opponents are Connacht and Clermont Auvergne.
At the end of the pool stages, the top four teams from each pool go into the quarter-finals, which will be played over two legs, home and away, in the following format:
The semi-finals are single-leg play-offs as they have been each year, as is the final, which takes place in Marseilles on May 22, 2021.
The Challenge Cup is made up of 14 teams; four from the Premiership, four from the PRO14 and six from the Top 14.
The teams were split into two tiers, with tier one consisting of ninth and tenth in the Premiership (Worcester Warriors and London Irish), ninth and 10th-ranked in the PRO14 (Benetton and Cardiff Blues), and ninth, 10th and 11th in the TOP 14 (Bayonne, Castres and Brive).
Tier two consists of the 11th and 12th-ranked teams from the PRO14 (Ospreys and Zebre) and Premiership (Leicester Tigers and Newcastle - the Falcons were ranked 12th as the team promoted from the Championship. They are joined by 12th, 13th and 14th in the Top 14 (Pau, Agen and Stade Francais).
As is the case in the Champions Cup, teams will not play a side from their own league or their own tier. Due to the fact that there is an extra Top 14 team in each tier, one team from the PRO14 and one team from the Premiership in each pool will only play French opposition.
All the clubs will be in one group for the tournament, with the top eight at the end of the pool stage entering into a Last 16 knockout stage with the eight teams that finished fifth to eighth in the two Champions Cup pools.
The top four teams in the Challenge Cup standings will host a play-off, while the next-best four will play away against their Champions Cup opponents.
The format will be as follows:
Last 16
Quarter-finals
Each team in the last 16 is given a ranking, with the top four teams in the Challenge Cup taking rankings one to four. The Champions Cup teams, in order of their final points tally, take rankings five to 12. The final four ranking places are taken by the bottom four in the Challenge Cup.
When teams progress to the quarter-finals from the last 16, it is the higher-ranked team that will host their quarter-final.
As is the case in the Champions Cup, the semi-finals are unchanged, while the final also takes place in Marseilles, on Friday, May 21, 2021.
