Cape Town vying to host first Champions and Challenge Cup finals in Africa

European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) chairman Dominic McKay revealed that the City of Cape Town is one of the cities vying to host either of the 2025 and 2026 Champions and Challenge Cup finals.

Speaking at a media roundtable on Thursday afternoon ahead of this year's finals weekend, McKay said interest in hosting the premier club rugby finale outside Europe was strong, including from South Africa and the USA.

On Saturday, Leinster host La Rochelle in Dublin in the Champions Cup final but not before Franco Smith's Glasgow Warriors face Toulon's Cheslin Kolbe and Co at the same ground on Friday night (21:00).

READ | Depth, talent, balance: Stormers have it all at hooker

Next year's tournament will be held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, home of the English Premier League side that gained infamy in this country over a botched near-billion-rand SA Tourism endorsement deal.

Cape Town Stadium has already sold out its 55 000 capacity seats for the United Rugby Championship (URC) final between the Stormers and Munster (27 May), the home side's second home final in two years.

Tickets flew in a matter of hours, selling out in under three from their time of release on Thursday.

"We're in the midst of a process at the moment. We have launched a process of expressions of interest from the rugby family and beyond for 2025 and 2026 finals," said McKay.

"We've been genuinely blown away by the level of interest, both from across Europe but also across South Africa and into the United States as well.

"We've got a number of cities, countries and stadia vying to host the premium competition in club rugby in the world.

"We've got over 23 bids that have been put forward, so we're going to work through those over the coming weeks and try to