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List of European Rugby Champions Cup finals

Current season or competition: 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup
Sport	Rugby union
Instituted	1995
Number of teams	24
Country	International club (European Professional Club Rugby)
Holders	Toulouse (2023–24)
Most titles	Toulouse (6 titles)

The European Rugby Champions Cup is an annual rugby union competition for European clubs whose countries compete in the Six Nations Championship. Introduced in 2014, the competition replaced the Heineken Cup, which had been run by European Rugby Cup (ERC) since 1995, following disagreements between its shareholders over the structure and governance of the competition.

It is organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), with teams qualifying via their final positions in their respective national/cross-border leagues (Premiership, Top 14, and Pro14). The winners of the first final were French team Toulouse, who beat Welsh side Cardiff 21–18 after extra time.

20 teams initially compete in five separate pools. The top eight teams from the pools progress to the knockout stage. If the score in a knockout match is a draw after 80 minutes of regular play, an additional 20-minute period of play, called extra time, is added. If the score remains tied, an additional 10 minutes of sudden-death extra time are played, with the first team to score points immediately declared the winner. If no team is able to break the tie during extra time, the winner is ultimately decided by a penalty shootout. As well as the first final, the 2005 final between French teams Toulouse and Stade Français went to extra time, which Toulouse won 18–12.

Toulouse are the most successful team in the history of the tournament, with six wins. Leinster have won the competition four times, while Toulon and Saracens are third with three wins. Toulon are the only team to have won three consecutive tournaments, from 2013 to 2015. Three teams have played in more than one final and failed to win any of them – Clermont and Racing 92 three times, Stade Français and Biarritz twice. No teams from Scotland and Italy have progressed to the final.

The 2017–18 final was held in Bilbao, marking the first time that the final was contested in a country without a team participating in the competition. The 2020–21 final was relocated from Marseille to London. and the 2021–22 final was held in Marseille instead.

Finals

Heineken Cup era
Season	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Attendance	Referee
1995–96	Toulouse	21–18†	Cardiff	Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff	21,800	David McHugh (Ireland)
1996–97	Brive	28–9	Leicester Tigers		41,664	Derek Bevan (Wales)
1997–98	Bath	19–18	Brive	Parc Lescure, Bordeaux	36,500	Jim Fleming (Scotland)
1998–99	Ulster	21–6	Colomiers	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	49,000	Clayton Thomas (Wales)
1999–2000	Northampton Saints	9–8	Munster	Twickenham, London	68,441	Joël Dumé (France)
2000–01	Leicester Tigers	34–30	Stade Français	Parc des Princes, Paris	44,000	David McHugh (Ireland)
2001–02	Leicester Tigers	15–9	Munster	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	74,600	Joël Jutge (France)
2002–03	Toulouse	22–17	Perpignan	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	28,600	Tony Spreadbury (England)
2003–04	London Wasps	27–20	Toulouse	Twickenham, London	73,057	Alain Rolland (Ireland)
2004–05	Toulouse	18–12†	Stade Français	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	51,326	Chris White (England)
2005–06	Munster	23–19	Biarritz	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	74,534
2006–07	London Wasps	25–9	Leicester Tigers	Twickenham, London	81,076	Alan Lewis (Ireland)
2007–08	Munster	16–13	Toulouse	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	74,500	Nigel Owens (Wales)
2008–09	Leinster	19–16	Leicester Tigers	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	66,523
2009–10	Toulouse	21–19	Biarritz	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	78,962	Wayne Barnes (England)
2010–11	Leinster	33–22	Northampton Saints	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	72,456	Romain Poite (France)
2011–12	Leinster	42–14	Ulster	Twickenham, London	81,774	Nigel Owens (Wales)
2012–13	Toulon	16–15	Clermont	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	50,198	Alain Rolland (Ireland)
2013–14	Toulon	23–6	Saracens	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	67,586
Champions Cup era
2014–15	Toulon	24–18	Clermont	Twickenham, London	56,622	Nigel Owens (Wales)
2015–16	Saracens	21–9	Racing 92	Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Lyon	58,017
2016–17	Saracens	28–17	Clermont	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	55,272
2017–18	Leinster	15–12	Racing 92	San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao	52,282	Wayne Barnes (England)
2018–19	Saracens	20–10	Leinster	St James' Park, Newcastle	51,930	Jérôme Garcès (France)
2019–20	Exeter Chiefs	31–27	Racing 92	Ashton Gate, Bristol	0	Nigel Owens (Wales)
2020–21	Toulouse	22–17	La Rochelle	Twickenham Stadium, London	10,000	Luke Pearce (England)
2021–22	La Rochelle	24–21	Leinster	Orange Vélodrome, Marseille	59,682	Wayne Barnes (England)
2022–23	La Rochelle	27–26	Leinster	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	51,711	Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
2023–24	Toulouse	31–22†	Leinster	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London	61,531	Matthew Carley (England)

Performances

By club

Club	Champions	Runners-up	Years as champions	Years as runners-up
Toulouse	6	2	1995–96, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2009–10, 2020–21, 2023–24	2003–04, 2007–08
Leinster	4	4	2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2017–18	2018–19, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
Saracens	3	1	2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19	2013–14
Toulon	3	0	2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15	—
Leicester Tigers	2	3	2000–01, 2001–02	1996–97, 2006–07, 2008–09
Munster	2	2	2005–06, 2007–08	1999–00, 2001–02
La Rochelle	2	1	2021–22, 2022–23	2020–21
Wasps	2	0	2003–04, 2006–07	—
Brive	1	1	1996–97	1997–98
Ulster	1	1	1998–99	2011–12
Northampton Saints	1	1	1999–00	2010–11
Bath	1	0	1997–98	—
Exeter Chiefs	1	0	2019–20	—
Clermont	0	3	—	2012–13, 2014–15, 2016–17
Racing 92	0	3	—	2015–16, 2017–18, 2019–20
Stade Français	0	2	—	2000–01, 2004–05
Biarritz	0	2	—	2005–06, 2009–10
Cardiff	0	1	—	1995–96
Colomiers	0	1	—	1998–99
Perpignan	0	1	—	2002–03

Player of the Match Award

The following players have been named the Player of the Match in European cup finals since 2005:

2005–2014 Final Player Team 2005 Yannick Jauzion Toulouse 2006 Peter Stringer Munster 2007 Fraser Waters Wasps 2008 Alan Quinlan Munster 2009 Rocky Elsom Leinster 2010 William Servat Toulouse 2011 Johnny Sexton Leinster 2012 Seán O'Brien Leinster 2013 Mathieu Bastareaud Toulon 2014 Craig Burden Toulon

2015–2024 Final Player Team 2015 Ali Williams Toulon 2016 Maro Itoje Saracens 2017 Billy Vunipola Saracens 2018 James Ryan Leinster 2019 Brad Barritt Saracens 2020 Joe Simmonds Exeter 2021 Romain Ntamack Toulouse 2022 Dillyn Leyds La Rochelle 2023 Grégory Alldritt La Rochelle 2024 Antoine Dupont Toulouse

Notes

1. Chris White (England) started the 2001 Heineken Cup final as referee, before withdrawing in the 12th minute due to injury, to be replaced by reserve official Tony Spreadbury (England).

References

1. "Stade Francais 12–18 Toulouse". BBC Sport. 22 May 2005. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
2. "Marseille to host 2021 European Champions Cup final". The Irish Times. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
3. "EPCR statement – 2021 Marseille finals and semi-final matches". European Professional Club Rugby. 2021-03-31. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
4. "Waters reduces Tigers' wingers to a rabble without a cause". The Guardian. 20 May 2007. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
5. "Rocky: A Leinster blockbuster". Irish Examiner. 25 May 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
6. "Williams happy with Twickenham final". EPCR. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
7. "The rampant rise of Maro Itoje". Rugby World. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
8. "James Ryan's maturity makes difference in game of fine margins". The Times. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2024.

External links

• Official website

• European Rugby Champions Cup finals
• Rugby union-related lists