The draw for the 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup will take place in Switzerland this Wednesday 19 June (1:00pm UK).
Saints earned a return to the top table of European rugby by virtue of their fourth-place finish in the Gallagher Premiership, and among other sides could lock horns with PRO14 champions Leinster, or recently crowned French kings Toulouse.
Chris Boyd’s men will find themselves in either Tier 2 or Tier 3, depending on the results of a preliminary draw. The draw will be streamed live on www.epcrugby.com and on the official Heineken Champions Cup Facebook channel.
Gallagher Premiership Rugby:
Saracens (Tier 1), Exeter Chiefs, Gloucester Rugby (Tier 2), Northampton Saints, Harlequins (Tier 3), Bath Rugby (Tier 4), Sale Sharks (Tier 4)
Guinness PRO14:
Leinster Rugby (Tier 1), Glasgow Warriors, Munster Rugby (Tier 2), Ulster Rugby, Connacht Rugby, Benetton Rugby (Tier 4), Ospreys (Tier 4)
TOP 14:
Toulouse (Tier 1), ASM Clermont Auvergne, Lyon (Tier 2), La Rochelle, Racing 92 (Tier 3), Montpellier (Tier 4)
Key principles
– The 20 clubs are divided into four tiers based on their performances in the knockout phases of their leagues, and/or their qualifying positions from the leagues, or on other official qualification criteria. This will be done where necessary by a draw.
– The Heineken Champions Cup winner goes automatically into Tier 1
– The 20 clubs will then be drawn into five pools of four clubs each
– Each pool will have at least one club from each of the three leagues
– Each of the five pools will have one club from each of the four tiers
– There will be no more than two clubs from the same league in a pool
– No pool will contain two PRO14 clubs from the same country
– Clubs from the same league will be kept apart until the Tier 4 allocation
EPCR weekends
Round 1: 15/16/17 November 2019
Round 2: 22/23/24 November 2019
Round 3: 6/7/8 December 2019
Round 4: 13/14/15 December 2019
Round 5: 10/11/12 January 2020
Round 6: 17/18/19 January 2020
Quarter-finals: 3/4/5 April 2020
Semi-finals: 1/2/3 May 2020
2020 Finals: Stade de Marseille
Challenge Cup final – Friday 22 May
Heineken Champions Cup final – Saturday 23 May
