The 2013–14 Heineken Cup was the 19th and final season of the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The pool stage began on 11 October 2013 and ran through to 17–19 January 2014, followed by the knockout stages culminating in the final. The final was originally to be held in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in May 2014, however the Federation Française de Rugby subsequently announced that they had withdrawn their application to host due to uncertainty over the availability of

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foo ...

. ERC invited the Heineken Cup participating countries to submit tenders for the right to host the Heineken Cup and Challenge Cup finals and three – England, Scotland and Wales – submitted bids. Cardiff was selected with the Heineken Cup final to be held in the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national r ...

on Saturday 24 May 2014 and the Challenge Cup final to be held the previous day in the

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

– the defending champions – beat

Saracens upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia ...

23–6 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. On 10 April 2014, following nearly two years of negotiations, an agreement for a new European club competition structure was reached. ERC will be wound up and replaced by a new

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

-based organising body known as European Professional Club Rugby. The Heineken Cup will be replaced by a new top-tier competition, the

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pr ...

, It will continue to involve clubs from all of the top six European nations, but will feature 20 clubs instead of the 24 in the Heineken Cup. The second-tier European Challenge Cup will have a minor name change and become the

European Rugby Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

, and will continue to involve 20 teams. A new third-tier competition, to be known as the qualifying Competition, will feature clubs from second-tier European rugby nations, plus Italian clubs that do not play in

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Af ...

Teams

The default allocation of teams was as follows: * England: 6 teams, based on performance in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is th ...

and Anglo–Welsh Cup * France: 6 teams, based on regular-season finish in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

* Ireland: 3 teams, based on regular-season finish in

* Wales: 3 teams, based on regular-season finish in

* Italy and Scotland: 2 teams each, based on participation in Pro12 (as there are only 2 from each nation) The remaining two places were filled by the winners of the previous year's

and

Amlin Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

. If the cup winners were already qualified through their domestic league, an additional team from their country would claim a Heineken Cup place (assuming another team was available). Accordingly, since Heineken Cup winners Toulon were already qualified through the Top 14, the extra French berth went to

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

. Also, since Amlin Cup winners Leinster were already qualified through the Pro12, the extra Irish berth went to

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and ...

. Teams are listed in the order they were presented to Heineken Cup organiser

European Rugby Cup European Rugby Cup Ltd (or ERC) was the governing body and organiser of the two major European rugby union club tournaments; the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup. It was replaced by the European Professional Club Rugby governing body in ...

by their respective leagues.

Seeding

The seeding system was the same as in the 2012–13 tournament. The 24 competing teams were ranked based on past Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup performance, with each pool receiving one team from each quartile, or Tier. The requirement to have only one team per country in each pool, however, still applied (with the exception of the inclusion of the seventh French team,

Racing Métro 92 Racing 92 () is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name ...

). The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking at the end of the 2012–13 season.

Pool stage

The draw for the pool stage took place on 5 June 2013 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The dates and times of the first 4 rounds were announced on 20 July 2013. Under the rules of the competition organiser,

, tie–breakers within each pool were as follows. * Competition points earned in head-to-head matches * Total tries scored in head-to-head matches * Point differential in head-to-head matches ERC had four additional tie-breakers, used if tied teams are in different pools, or if the above steps cannot break a tie between teams in the same pool: * Tries scored in all pool matches * Point differential in all pool matches * Best disciplinary record (fewest players receiving red or yellow cards in all pool matches) * Coin toss

Pool 1

Pool 2

Pool 3

Pool 4

Pool 5

Pool 6

Seeding and runners-up

* Bare numbers indicate Heineken Cup quarter–final seeding. * Numbers with "C" indicate Challenge Cup quarter–final seeding.

Knock-out stages

All kickoff times are local to the match location.

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Final

References

External links

*
2013–14 Heineken Cup
at '' ESPNscrum'' {{DEFAULTSORT:2013-14 Heineken Cup Heineken Cup seasons

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Feb ...