Champions Cup could cut English contingent to ensure it remains 'pinnacle competition'
EPCR will change the format for the tournament from 2024/25 with Premiership sides not guaranteed to retain eight places in it
By Charlie Morgan, Senior Rugby Writer 18 May 2023 ? 5:15pm
European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) will consider cutting the amount of Premiership sides involved in the Champions Cup to keep it as the ?pinnacle competition?.
Ahead of a format change for the EPCR tournaments next season, which is likely to ditch the unpopular ?mega-pool? system, and then a ?detailed review? ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, EPCR chairman Dominic McKay has been in touch with Premiership Rugby.
Eight of the Premiership?s 11 clubs, including London Irish, have qualified for the 2023-24 Champions Cup, but there are no guarantees that England will retain the same contingent in future.
EPCR, the organisers of the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, are monitoring the ongoing uncertainty at Irish, which could cause the Premiership to become a 10-team league as soon as this summer.
?We?re doing a revamp of our format for next season and a more thoughtful, detailed review of the format for 2024-25 and onwards,? McKay said.
?The improvements that we are making for next year will be fantastic for the audience and great for the clubs, supporters and players. That?s number one. Number two is how we make sure we have the best possible clubs filtering into the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup.
?I was with the PRL [Premiership Rugby Limited] board this week speaking to them about a raft of different things including format and number of teams. It?s a live topic of conversation right now. What we?re also monitoring is what?s happening with the clubs in England. We?re obviously seeing what is happening with London Irish. We?re close to that situation and we?re getting updates from RFU and PRL. It was hugely unfortunate what happened to Wasps and to Worcester this year.
?Not only does that have an effect on PRL but it has a knock-on consequence on Europe. We are very closely aligned with what is happening in England and the consequences of that need to ensure that we remain the pinnacle competition. And being the pinnacle competition, we want to keep the number of clubs that filter into our new format under review.?
McKay suggested that, with Irish set a deadline of May 30 by the Rugby Football Union to prove their viability for next season, the coming weeks could be critical as far as establishing the shape of the Premiership and the number of sides that will compete in the Champions Cup.
?It?s a big conversation,? he added. ?Once PRL are a little bit more clear on their intentions in terms of their format, then we can have a reflective discussion on how that impacts on Europe. Those conversations are very aligned at the moment and will continue over the coming weeks.?
Meanwhile, McKay also revealed that EPCR are weighing up whether to take the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals to the United States of America. With Tottenham hosting next year, they have received bids from 23 potential host venues across 12 countries for 2025 and 2026 and could bring a showpiece match across the Atlantic as a tie-in with the 2031 World Cup.
?We?ve got some amazing bids that have already come in; 23 of them demonstrates the breadth and scale of interest,? McKay said.
?We?ve got to work our way through each of those because every one comes with its own level of detail that we want to review. On America in particular, as a global game, we?ve got a responsibility to support the potential growth in America in different ways and one of those elements is about putting showcase events into America.
?The timing of that is all dependent on the bid and our confidence in making sure that it is a huge success. With the World Cup being there in the not-too-distant future, there are lots of reasons to do something special in the States but there is a process to work through.
?At this point, what is particularly pleasing is the number of venues, both inside the traditional rugby environment and outside, that are really keen to host what is the greatest final in professional club rugby.?
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