Four pools of six in revamped Champions Cup format

The Heineken Champions Cup will be revamped for next season with four pools of six teams introduced, tournament organisers have announced.

Three seasons ago, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tournament structure changed to two expanded pools of 12 teams.

It came in for criticism as 16 of 24 teams progressed out of the pool stages, with EPCR chairman Dominic McKay earlier this year admitting that the structure was under review.

Now the EPCR has returned to something more similar to the previous structure, with four pools of six rather than the six pools of four.

At the conclusion of the pool stage, the four highest-ranked clubs from each pool will qualify for the round of 16, and the clubs ranked number five in each of the pools will qualify for the knockout stage of the Challenge Cup.

The Challenge Cup will feature three pools of six.

The top eight teams in the United Rugby Championship, Top 14 and Premiership will compete in the Champions Cup, with the 2024 finals to be staged at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next May.

"Our focus has always been to ensure that everyone can easily understand, engage with and follow our tournaments, and also to ensure we have a structure that creates real sporting jeopardy in as many matches as possible," chairman Mackay said.

"We reached this conclusion following a thorough process during which we engaged with stakeholders in a meaningful way – not just our Leagues and unions, but also with our broadcasters, partners and around 1,000 rugby enthusiasts in order to canvass their views."

The draw for next season's Champions Cup takes place next week.

URC champions Munster will be among the top seeds that include La Rochelle [Champions Cup winners] and Premiership winners Saracens.

Leinster will