For the first time since joining Europe’s top club competition, South Africa’s franchises enter the Investec Champions Cup as fully included participants, hosting European sides on home turf. Here’s everything you need to know about club rugby’s premier tournament.
From Heineken Cup to Investec Champions Cup
The competition began in 1995 as the Heineken Cup, bringing together the top clubs from England, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Italy. French and Irish teams quickly set the tone: Toulouse and Leinster are still the benchmark, with Toulouse now on six European titles and Leinster on four. Toulon and Saracens have three apiece, having dominated the 2010s.
A governance reset in 2014 created the European Rugby Champions Cup under EPCR (European Professional Club Rugby). In 2023–24 Investec came on board as title sponsor, and the competition is now officially the Investec Champions Cup, celebrating its 30th anniversary season in 2024–25 and rolling into 2025–26 with record attendances, broadcast numbers and commercial partners.
French clubs have dominated the recent era: La Rochelle went back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, Toulouse won again in 2024, and Bordeaux Bègles became first-time champions in 2025, beating Northampton Saints 28–20 in Cardiff.
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How the format works now
The modern format is relatively simple for such a big tournament:
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24 teams
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Three source leagues:
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Top 8 from the English Premiership
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Top 8 from France’s Top 14
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8 from the URC (Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa – with Wales missing out in 2024–25 after none finished high enough)
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Four pools of six teams
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Each team plays four pool matches – two home, two away – against clubs not from their own league.
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Knockouts
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Top four in each pool qualify for the Round of 16, then it’s quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.
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Crucially for South Africa, the qualification pathway now includes:
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The top URC teams, plus…
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The EPCR Challenge Cup winners, who grab an extra Champions Cup place – this is how the Sharks forced their way back into the top tier after winning the 2024 Challenge Cup.
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How South Africa got in – and what’s changed
South African entry into Europe was locked in with the creation of the United Rugby Championship (URC), which replaced PRO14 and formally integrated the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions into northern-hemisphere competition.
EPCR then confirmed in June 2022 that South African URC franchises would enter both the Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup from the 2022–23 season onward – the first time European competitions opened up beyond the traditional Six Nations footprint.
For the inaugural 2022–23 campaign:
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Stormers, Bulls and Sharks went into the Champions Cup.
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The Lions and Cheetahs joined the Challenge Cup.
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Initially, scheduling and travel logistics meant South African teams often had to choose their battles – loaded URC blocks, long-haul flights for every European away game and little recovery. A lot of analysis at the time described the air-miles and calendar as a “logistical nightmare” for SA clubs.
Since then, EPCR and the leagues have been tweaking the structure, and the 2025 EPCR Club Conference doubled down on a strategy of expansion plus alignment – more joined-up calendars, better travel planning and a clear commitment to club rugby as “the beating heart of the game”, in EPCR Chairman Dominic McKay’s words.
How South African teams have performed so far
South Africa has dominated at Test level – back-to-back World Cups, Rugby Championship titles, and a reputation for thriving in northern-hemisphere conditions – but the Champions Cup has been a harsher classroom. As Mark Keohane has argued, the mindset, selection and scheduling approach haven’t yet matched Europe’s best.
2022–23 – debut season
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Stormers: Reached the quarter-finals, where they were blown away 42–17 by Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park.
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Sharks: Also into the quarter-finals, thumped 54–20 by a full-noise Toulouse in France.
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Bulls: Knocked out in the Round of 16 by Toulouse in Toulouse.
All three qualified from their pools, all three lost their knockout ties away from home – a theme.
2023–24 – second crack
Format tweaks put South African teams in four pools of six:
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Bulls: Went 3–0–1 in pool play, earned a high seeding, then sent a weakened squad to Northampton for the quarter-final and were ripped apart 59–22. The fallout was so bad that EPCR openly talked about revising the schedule to avoid SA sides having to sacrifice their European hand due to travel and URC clashes.
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Stormers: Qualified for the Round of 16 but fell to La Rochelle, the back-to-back European champions.
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Sharks: Struggled in the Champions Cup pool stage, dropped into the Challenge Cup – and then won the whole thing, beating Gloucester 36–22 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to become the first South African side to lift a European trophy.
So far: knockout rugby, yes. Titles, no. South African clubs are competitive but still learning how to time their run, manage squads and win in France and Ireland in April and May.
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Why the 2025–26 season feels different
A few things make this season feel like a “full” integration rather than a novelty:
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Big European clubs are now travelling properly to South Africa
We’re seeing Bordeaux kick off their title defence in Pretoria, Toulouse playing Champions Cup fixtures in Durban, and English and French heavyweights treating trips to Loftus, DHL Stadium and Kings Park become consistent seasonal events. For the first two years in the tournament, South African sides hosted no home fixtures. -
South African teams already have European silverware
The Sharks’ 2024 Challenge Cup title changed the conversation – Europe is no longer just a growth exercise, it’s a realistic trophy target. It adds pressure, but also belief, across the Bulls and Stormers squads. -
The calendar is (slightly) more coherent
EPCR and the leagues have tightened the Champions Cup window: four pool rounds in December–January and a clean knockout block from early April through to the Bilbao final in late May 2026. That doesn’t solve every URC–Europe clash, but it’s a step towards avoiding Bulls-style “sacrificial” line-ups in quarter-finals. -
Home advantage matters more than ever
Even traditional European powers have spoken about how brutal it is coming to South Africa for high-stakes matches – altitude in Pretoria, heat and humidity in Durban, and full houses in Cape Town. French coverage has framed matches like Toulouse at Kings Park as “terra incognita”. -
Expectation has shifted
South African media and pundits are no longer satisfied with “good first effort”. Platforms like SA Rugby Magazine and keo.co.za have all pushed the line that the three Champions Cup entrants need to pick stronger teams more consistently and treat Europe with the same respect as they do the URC knockouts.
The Investec Champions Cup 2025/26 season represents a shift from a northern showpiece that happens to feature South Africans, to a genuinely pan-hemisphere club competition with South African franchises expected to chase – and eventually win – that golden star.
For all Investec Champions Cup fixtures Click HERE
Photo by David Rogers/Getty Image
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