European Professional Club Rugby
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| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 |
| Headquarters | Neuchâtel, Switzerland |
| Chairman | Simon Halliday (From 4 May 2015) |
| Chief Exec | Vincent Gaillard (From 1 July 2015) |
| Replaced | European Rugby Cup (ERC) |
| Official website | |
| www |
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European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) is the governing body and organiser of two European rugby union club tournaments: the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The organisation was established in 2014 and is headquartered in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Switzerland was chosen so as not to have the headquarters based in any of the six participating countries.
The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup run by EPCR replace the Heineken Cup tournament that was run by Dublin-based European Rugby Cup until 2014.
EPCR’s has nine major shareholders – the six tier 1 unions whose national teams play in the Six Nations Championship, and the three club bodies that represent English, French and Welsh teams in their respective leagues.
The inaugural competitions were held in the 2014–15 season.
Prior to 2014, the pan-European club competitions - the Heineken Cup, and European Challenge Cup - were organised and run by European Rugby Cup Ltd. (ERC). ERC was created in 1995, following the advent of professionalism, by the then Five Nations Committee.
In 2012, Premiership Rugby and LNR, on behalf of the English and French clubs respectively, notified ERC that they would be withdrawing from the accord governing the competition, being dissatisfied with the organisation of the competition and the distribution of funding. Premiership Rugby subsequently refused to join any new agreement in which ERC remained organisers of European rugby tournaments.
On April 10, 2014 it was announced that the nine shareholders with an interest in continuing major European club competition had come to an agreement for new competitions. Under the new agreement, ERC was wound up, and a new body, European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), would be created to organise three new competitions, European Rugby Champions Cup, the European Rugby Challenge Cup, and the third tier Qualifying Competition, beginning with the 2014-15 season.
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