Heineken Cup
| European Rugby Champions Cup | |
|---|---|
Current season or competition:: 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup
|
|
 |
|
| Sport | Rugby union |
| Inaugural season |
1995–96 as Heineken Cup 2014–15 as Champions Cup |
| Chairman | Simon Halliday |
| Number of teams | 20 |
| Nations |
 England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales
|
| Holders |
Saracens (2015–16)
|
| Most titles |
Toulouse (4 titles)
|
| Website | Official website |
| Related competitions |
European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition |
The European Rugby Champions Cup is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs whose countries' national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship. Clubs qualify for the Champions Cup via their final positions in their respective national/regional leagues (Premiership, Top 14, and Pro12); those who do not qualify are instead eligible to compete in the second-tier Challenge Cup.
Introduced in 2014, the competition replaced the Heineken Cup, which had run since 1995, following disagreements between its shareholders over the structure and governance of the competition.
Saracens are the current holders of the cup, having won their first cup by beating Racing 92 in the 2016 final. Toulouse have won the competition a record four times, the last of which was in 2010.
The Heineken Cup was launched in the summer of 1995 on the initiative of the then Five Nations Committee to provide a new level of professional cross border competition. Twelve sides representing Ireland, Wales, Italy, Romania and France competed in four pools of three with the group winners going directly into the semi-finals. English and Scottish teams did not take part in the inaugural competition. From an inauspicious beginning in Romania, where Toulouse defeated Farul Constanţa 54–10 in front of a small crowd, the competition gathered momentum and crowds grew. Toulouse went on to become the first European cup winners, eventually beating Cardiff in extra time in front of a crowd of 21,800 at Cardiff Arms Park.
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