The 2025–26 European Rugby Champions Cup will be the twelfth season of the

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec 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 ...

, the annual club

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 run by

European Professional Club Rugby European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) is the governing body and organiser of the two major club rugby union tournaments: the European Rugby Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup. A third tournament, the European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifyin ...

(EPCR) for professional clubs. It will be the 31st season of the pan-European professional club rugby competition. The final will be played at San Mamés Stadium,

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

Bordeaux Bègles Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

enter the competition as defending champions with

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

entering as beaten finalists.

Teams

Twenty-four clubs from the three major European domestic and regional leagues qualified for the 2025–26 edition of the Champions Cup. As both European trophy winners from the previous season achieved top eight domestic finishes, qualification was won on league standing alone. The distribution of teams was: * England: eight clubs ** The top eight clubs from the 2024–25 Premiership. * France: eight clubs ** The top eight clubs from the 2024–25 Top 14. * Ireland, Scotland, South Africa and Wales: eight clubs ** The top eight sides from 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 ...

Team details

Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2025-26 European Rugby Champions Cup 2025–26 in European rugby union European Rugby Champions Cup seasons 2025–26 rugby union tournaments for clubs