Pro14
Current season or competition:: 2017–18 Pro14
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| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 2001 |
| Number of teams | 14 |
| Nations |
 Ireland (4 teams) Italy (2 teams) Scotland (2 teams) Wales (4 teams) South Africa (2 teams) |
| Holders |
Scarlets (2017–18)
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| Most titles |
Leinster (4 titles) Ospreys (4 titles) |
| Website | pro14rugby |
The PRO14 (known as the Guinness PRO14 for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales. The league is one of the three major professional leagues in Europe (along with the English Premiership and the French Top 14), the most successful European teams from which go forward to compete in the European Rugby Champions Cup, the pan-European championship which replaced the Heineken Cup after the 2013–14 season. The Pro14 is the second domestic club competition in the professional era to span both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and the second, to the Southern Hemisphere competition Super Rugby, to cross continents.
Beginning in the 2001–02 season, the league was originally known as the Celtic League and comprised teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The league was sponsored by Irish cider makers Magners from the 2006–07 season until 2010–11. At the start of the 2010–11 season, the league expanded from ten to twelve teams, adding two Italian teams. Following the end of Magners' sponsorship, the league was sponsored by RaboDirect from 2011–12 through to 2013–14. The "Pro12" name was adopted in 2011 to reflect that the league now included teams from outside the Celtic nations. A further expansion to 14 teams took place from the 2017–18 season, with two South African teams joining the league. The current sponsorship deal with Guinness commenced at the beginning of the 2014–15 season.
The league season as of 2017 takes place between September and May, with teams split into two conferences; each consisting of two Irish and Welsh teams and one team each from Italy, Scotland and South Africa to make a seven team conference. Each year the teams will be allocated to conferences based on their previous year's final positioning - in terms of Ireland and Wales the top club from their respective nation will be placed in the same conference as the bottom club from their respective nation.
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