The 2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup, known colloquially as the 2024-25 European Challenge Cupwas the eleventh edition of the

EPCR 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 i ...

, an annual second-tier

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

competition for professional clubs competing in elite European competition. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this is the 29th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition. The final was played at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales. The South African

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

-based team,

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

, were the reigning champions, and qualified for the

2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup The 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the 2024–25 Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Profession ...

as a consequence. Following the pool stages of that competition, the Sharks dropped back into the knockout phase of the Challenge Cup, becoming at that point the defending champions. The Sharks were eliminated in the Round of 16 by French team,

Lyon Olympique Lyon Olympique Universitaire Rugby or LOU is a French professional rugby union team based in Lyon that currently competes in the Top 14, the highest level of the country's professional league system, having been most recently promoted for the 20 ...

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground, Bath, Rec ...

defeated

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

in the final 37-12, to win their second title, and the thirteenth for an English club, a record for one nation and one league.

Teams

Sixteen teams qualified for the 2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup from

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

, 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 National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

and the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

as a direct result of their domestic league performance having not qualified for the Champions Cup. Two further sides received invitations, South Africa's

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat and the fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, with a short snout and blac ...

and Georgia's Black Lion. The distribution of teams are: * England: two teams ** Teams in the 2024–25 Premiership season that did not qualify for the 2024–25 Champions Cup. * France: six teams ** Teams taking part in the

2024–25 Top 14 season The 2024–25 Top 14 competition is the 126th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Format The top six teams at the end of the regular season (after all the teams played one another twice, ...

that did not qualify for the 2024–25 Champions Cup. *

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

: one team ** one team, invited, Black Lion * Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales: eight teams ** Eight teams in the

2024–25 United Rugby Championship The 2024–25 United Rugby Championship was the 24th season of the professional rugby union competition currently known as the United Rugby Championship, the highest level domestic rugby competition in South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and It ...

season that did not qualify for the 2024–25 Champions Cup. This season, these consist of four teams from Wales (

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

, Ospreys and

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

), and a single team each from Ireland (

Connacht Rugby Connacht Rugby is one of the four professional provincial men's rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Connacht B ...

), Italy (

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), Scotland (

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

) and South Africa (

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is se ...

). * South Africa: one further team ** One team, invited, the South African team,

, playing their home games in the Netherlands. At the knockout stage, a further four teams entered the competition from the Champions Cup: * South Africa: two further teams,

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine * Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding *Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

and

* England: 1 further team

* France: 1 further team

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris' western inner Banlieue, suburbs that competes in Top 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity Stadium#Types, domed stadium Pa ...

Team details

Pool stage

Teams were drawn into pools on 2 July in

. Teams were 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.

Pool 1

Pool 2

Pool 3

Knockout stage

The knockout stage begins with a single-leg round of 16 matches, consisting of the top 4 teams from each pool, and the teams ranked 5th in each pool of the

. The round of 16 follows a pre-determined format, while the quarter-finals and semi-finals guarantee home advantage to the higher-ranked team.

Seeding

Bracket

Round of 16

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

----

Final

Leading scorers

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Most points

Source:

Most tries

Source:

Discipline

Citings/bans

Notes:

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:European Rugby Challenge Cup 2024–25 rugby union tournaments for clubs 2024–25 in English rugby union 2024–25 in French rugby union 2024–25 in Irish rugby union 2024–25 in Italian rugby union 2024–25 in Scottish rugby union 2024–25 in Welsh rugby union 2024 in South African rugby union 2025 in South African rugby union

2024-25 A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...