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2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup
| 2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup |
|---|
| England France Ireland Scotland Wales |
| Round-robin and knockout |
| 10 December 2021 – 28 May 2022 |
| 24 |
| 60 |
| 843,371 (14,056 per match) |
| 42,067 - Leinster v Toulouse14 May 2022 |
| 4,000 - Sale Sharks v Ospreys23 January 2022 |
| 396 (6.6 per match) |
| Johnny Sexton (Leinster)65 points |
| James Lowe (Leinster)10 tries |
| Stade Vélodrome, Marseille |
| La Rochelle (1st title) |
| Leinster |
The 2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) for teams from the top six nations in European rugby. It was the 27th season of pan-European professional club rugby competition.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 24-team, two pool tournament format adopted for the previous season remained.
This is the final year, under the current sponsorship deal, with Dutch beer brand Heineken, after a four-year deal was agreed starting from the 2018/19 season.
The tournament commenced in December 2021. On 28 May 2022, Stade Rochelais won the final at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, France, defeating Leinster 24 points to 21.
Twenty-four clubs from the three major European domestic and regional leagues are competing in the Champions Cup.
The distribution of the teams are:
- England: eight clubs
- The top eight clubs from Premiership Rugby
- France: eight clubs
- The top seven clubs from the Top 14
- Montpellier automatically qualify as Challenge Cup champions despite not finishing in the top 8.
- Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales: eight clubs
- The top four sides in each conference from the previous season's Pro14 (now known as United Rugby Championship).
The following teams have qualified for the tournament as of 12 June 2021.
| Premiership | Top 14 | United Rugby Championship (Pro14) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath | ||||
| Bristol Bears | ||||
| Exeter Chiefs | ||||
| Harlequins | ||||
| Leicester Tigers | ||||
| Northampton Saints | ||||
| Sale Sharks | ||||
| Wasps | Bordeaux Bègles | |||
| Castres | ||||
| Clermont | ||||
| La Rochelle | ||||
| Montpellier | ||||
| Racing 92 | ||||
| Stade Français | ||||
| Toulouse | Connacht | |||
| Leinster | ||||
| Munster | ||||
| Ulster | Glasgow Warriors | Cardiff | ||
| Ospreys | ||||
| Scarlets |
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 /Director of Rugby | Captain | Stadium | Capacity | Method of qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath | Stuart Hooper | Charlie Ewels | The Recreation Ground | 14,509 | Premiership top 8 (7th) |
| Bordeaux Bègles | Christophe Urios | Jefferson Poirot | Stade Chaban-Delmas | 34,694 | Top 14 top 8 (4th) |
| Bristol Bears | Pat Lam | Steve Luatua | Ashton Gate | 27,000 | Premiership top 8 (3rd) (SF) |
| Cardiff Rugby | Dai Young | Josh Turnbull | Cardiff Arms Park | 12,125 | Pro14 Conference B (4th) |
| Castres | Mauricio Reggiardo | Mathieu Babillot | Stade Pierre-Fabre | 12,500 | Top 14 top 8 (6th) (QF) |
| Clermont | Jono Gibbes | Camille Lopez | Stade Marcel-Michelin | 19,022 | Top 14 top 8 (5th) (QF) |
| Connacht | Andy Friend | Jack Carty | Galway Sportsgrounds | 8,129 | Pro14 Conference B (2nd) |
| Exeter Chiefs | Rob Baxter | Jack Yeandle Joe Simmonds | Sandy Park | 13,593 | Premiership top 8 (2nd) (RU) |
| Glasgow Warriors | Danny Wilson | Fraser Brown Ryan Wilson | Scotstoun Stadium | 7,351 | Pro14 Conference A (4th) |
| Harlequins | Billy Millard | Stephan Lewies | Twickenham Stoop | 14,800 | Premiership top 8 (1st) (CH) |
| La Rochelle | Ronan O'Gara | Grégory Alldritt | Stade Marcel-Deflandre | 16,000 | Top 14 top 8 (2nd) (RU) |
| Leicester Tigers | Steve Borthwick | Ellis Genge | Mattioli Woods Welford Road | 25,849 | Premiership top 8 (6th) |
| Leinster | Leo Cullen | Johnny Sexton | RDS ArenaAviva Stadium | 18,50051,700 | Pro14 Conference A (1st) (CH) |
| Montpellier | Philippe Saint-André | Fulgence Ouedraogo | Altrad Stadium | 15,697 | 2020–21 Challenge Cup Champion |
| Munster | Johann van Graan | Peter O'Mahony | Thomond Park | 25,600 | Pro14 Conference B (1st) (RU) |
| Northampton Saints | Chris Boyd | Lewis Ludlam | Franklin's Gardens | 15,200 | Premiership top 8 (5th) |
| Ospreys | Toby Booth | Justin Tipuric | Swansea.com Stadium | 21,088 | Pro14 Conference A (3rd) |
| Racing 92 | Laurent Travers | Henry Chavancy | Paris La Défense Arena | 30,681 | Top 14 top 8 (3rd) |
| Sale Sharks | Alex Sanderson | Jono Ross | AJ Bell Stadium | 12,000 | Premiership top 8 (3rd) (SF) |
| Scarlets | Dwayne Peel | Jonathan Davies | Parc y Scarlets | 14,870 | Pro14 Conference B (3rd) |
| Stade Français | Gonzalo Quesada | Yoann Maestri | Stade Jean-Bouin | 20,000 | Top 14 top 8 (6th) (QF) |
| Toulouse | Ugo Mola | Julien Marchand | Stade Ernest-Wallon | 19,500 | Top 14 top 8 (1st) (CH) |
| Ulster | Dan McFarland | Iain Henderson | Ravenhill Stadium | 18,196 | Pro14 Conference A (2nd) |
| Wasps | Lee Blackett | Joe Launchbury | Ricoh Arena | 32,609 | Premiership top 8 (8th) |
The twenty four teams are seeded based on their finishing position in end of season playoffs and league positions. This follows the format from the previous season with the number 1 and number 2 ranked clubs from each league in Tier 1, the number 3 and number 4 ranked clubs in Tier 2, the number 5 and 6 ranked clubs in Tier 3, and the number 7 and number 8 ranked clubs in Tier 4.
| Tier | Rank | Top 14 | Premiership | United Rugby Championship (Pro14) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Toulouse | Harlequins | Leinster |
| 2 | La Rochelle | Exeter Chiefs | Munster | |
| 2 | 3 | Racing 92 | Bristol Bears | Ulster |
| 4 | Bordeaux Bègles | Sale Sharks | Connacht | |
| 3 | 5 | Clermont | Northampton Saints | Scarlets |
| 6 | Stade Français | Leicester Tigers | Ospreys | |
| 4 | 7 | Castres | Bath | Cardiff |
| 8 | Montpellier | Wasps | Glasgow Warriors |
The draw took place on 21 July 2021 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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.
| Column 1 | Column 2 |
|---|---|
| Top 8 in each pool, advance to round of 16. | |
| Teams ranked 9th–11th in each pool advance to 2021–22 EPCR Challenge Cup round of 16 |
The knockout stage began across the 8/9/10 April with a home and away round of 16 matches consisting of the top eight ranked teams from each pool.
- 2021–22 EPCR Challenge Cup
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