France the end destination as EPCR competitions get schedule tweak

Next season’s Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup will start before the November international window, with the first round kicking off 16-18 October, 2026, and will come to an end in Lyon in May.

This season’s competitions both started at the beginning of December, which is when Round Two kicks in, resulting in an eight-week gap between the first two rounds in the 2026/27 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup.

EPCR, the tournament organisers, have, however, resisted calls to do away with the Round of 16, which critics argued made qualification from the truncated four-round pool stages too easy.

And there remains only one week between the Round of 16 and the quarter-finals, which have presented teams with logistical challenges in the past, in terms of arranging travel and selling tickets.

Lyon’s 59,186-seat OL Stadium has been chosen as the venue for the two showpiece matches, as was the case in 2016.

On that weekend, a capacity crowd watched Saracens defeat Racing 92 21-9, to claim the first of their three titles, while Montpellier overcame Harlequins 26-19 to lift their first Challenge Cup trophy.

“We are pleased to confirm next season’s key dates for the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup. The 2026/27 season, starting once again in October as our competitions did pre-Covid, will build to a wonderful finale in Lyon’s superb OL Stadium, where we will return after a successful Finals weekend in 2016. We are delighted to be returning to this venue, which has already staged EPCR Finals, Rugby World Cup and Six Nations matches,” said EPCR CEO Jacques Raynaud.

“The Road to Lyon will get underway on Wednesday 1 July, when we will broadcast the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup Pool Draws live from Premier Sports’ studio, and we thank our UK and Ireland broadcast partner for their support in delivering this key element in mapping out the Pool Stages.

“We are also excited to see the opening round of those Pool Stages return to the pre-Covid October slot, a recommendation put forward by EPCR and unanimously agreed by the three Leagues, with EPCR competitions part of the club rugby dynamic from the start of the season in a move that is welcomed by fans and commercial partners alike.”

The Pool draw for the 2026/27 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup will take place on Wednesday 1 July 2026.

The 2026/27 Champions Cup/Challenge Cup season will be the last of the current three-year Premier Sports UK & Ireland TV rights deal, and the tender process for the next contract is expected to start shortly.

2026/27 Champions Cup/Challenge Cup key dates:

Round 1 – 16/17/18 October 2026
Round 2 – 11/12/13 December 2026
Round 3 – 8/9/10 January 2027
Round 4 – 15/16/17 January 2027
Round of 16 – 2/3/4 April 2027
Quarter-Finals – 9/10/11 April 2027
Semi-Finals – 30 April / 1/2 May 2027
EPCR Challenge Cup Final: Friday 21 May 2027
Investec Champions Cup Final: Saturday 22 May 2027