After a century of football in their old stadium, 2013 saw Spanish football club Athletic Bilbao change their base to the ‘new’ San Mames, a newly-constructed modern arena with an official capacity of nearly 53,000 people. In their first match under full capacity at their new home, they played Napoli in August 2014 in the UEFA Champions League, the premier club competition on the continent and one of the most popular tournaments in the world.
Since that season, the team has been unsuccessful in qualifying for the competition and with the 2017-18 season getting underway this summer, the Basque club will look to qualify for the next season’s Champions League.
However, San Mames will play host to another elite European club competition at the end of the season – the final of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the top tier tournament for European club rugby. Featuring 20 teams from across countries that contest the Six Nations Championship, it is the pinnacle of the sport at the club level and is one of the most popular events in the European sporting calendar.
The Champions Cup has teams from three different leagues – the Premiership, which is England’s top division rugby competition featuring 12 teams; the Top 14, which is the highest level of club rugby in France with 14 teams; and the Pro 12, which has twelve sides from the four remaining Six Nations, namely, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.
From each of these competitions, similar to the UEFA Champions League, a select number of top teams go into next season’s Champions Cup with the others competing for the European Rugby Challenge Cup, the second-tier club competition, rugby’s UEFA Europa League, so to speak.
It also features a total of 20 sides, which includes 18 teams from the three above-mentioned leagues and two from other nations across Europe. Lower-tier clubs from Italy, who already are a part of the Six Nations, and teams from nations such as Romania, Spain, Russia, Belgium, Portugal and Germany face off in the European Rugby Continental Shield face off for two spots in next year’s Challenge Cup.
The Champions Cup was first contested during the 2014-15 season, before which the elite club competition was known as the Heineken Cup, which began in 1995. In its 19 years of existence, it saw the tournament grow rapidly in prestige and stature, with clubs from England, Wales, France and Ireland lifting the trophy.
The final edition of the Heineken Cup was won by French side Toulon in 2014 at the iconic Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. After that, the tournament was rebranded as the Champions Cup and once again it was won by Toulon, but this time at the home of the sport – the famed Twickenham Stadium in London.
The importance and prestige value has only increased over time, even if the name has changed. Andy Nicol, the Bath Rugby captain in 1998, who lifted the Heineken Cup told Sportskeeda, “Without doubt, the greatest achievement of my career was winning the European Cup because of the nine games through the whole season and the highs and lows that we had to go through.”
Courtney Lawes of the Northampton Saints stated, “The Champions Cup is what we thrive on. We always want to go out and test ourselves against the best teams in Europe.”
The organizer of these tournaments is known as European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), and is headquartered in Neuchatel, Switzerland. It is chaired by Simon Halliday, who is a former rugby international for England.
“The Champions Cup is recognised by players across Europe, and beyond, as the highest barometer of club rugby and the tournament that every player and coach wants to win,” said Halliday, who is a former first-class cricketer as well. “The calibre of the sport speaks for itself and its rich and diverse heritage reflected in the fact that eleven different clubs have lifted the trophy over the past 22 years.”
The tournament has become more and more popular with every passing year, increasing the number of fans inside as well as outside the stadiums. “More than one million spectators passed through the turnstiles during the last Champions Cup season and the Challenge Cup enjoyed a 20% boost in crowds when compared with the previous campaign,” explained Halliday.
He added, “The changes that EPCR have made to the tournaments and their format have been well received at all levels and we look forward to further developing them from strength to strength in the coming years.”
EPCR are now looking to expand the tournament to markets outside the Six Nations, across other European countries as well as in Asia. “The move to a finals weekend as one large celebration of European professional club rugby has not only been a success but attracted the interest of a wide range of cities in both new and traditional European rugby markets,” said Vincent Gaillard, the CEO of EPCR.
“In 2018, we will go outside of the traditional ‘six nations’ for the first time, with Bilbao winning a rigorous and competitive tender process.” He stated, “We have also seen significant media value in coverage of our tournaments with India in the top five markets outside of the traditional European rugby nations in 2016, along with Germany, Belgium, Malaysia and Singapore.”
EPCR is also responsible for presenting the European Player of the Year award and in 2013, the award was won by England's Jonny Wilkinson, one of the greatest to have graced the sport, who called the accolade a ‘privilege’ and ‘something really special.’
From the 2016-17 season onwards, the winner of the award would also be awarded the Anthony Foley Memorial Trophy, in memory of the former Irish player and coach of Munster, who tragically passed away last year.
The next season of the Champions Cup is all set to get underway, with the pool draw for the same conducted earlier this Thursday. Fans of the sport are gearing up for what will be a thrilling tournament and here’s hoping it scales even bigger heights this season!
