Glasgow Warriors’ seeding boost after URC triumph - when is the Champions Cup draw and what is the format?

One of the spin-off benefits from Glasgow Warriors’ stunning United Rugby Championship triumph will be realised next week when the draw is made for next season’s Investec Champions Cup.

Franco Smith’s side will be among the top seeds when the pool stages are worked out in Cardiff on Tuesday, July 2. In theory, it should offer Glasgow a slightly easier pathway into the knockout stage.

The seeding status is reward for Glasgow’s victory over the Bulls in the URC final in South Africa on Saturday evening. The winners of Europe’s three big leagues and the defending Champions Cup winners all have top billing in the draw and are classed as Tier 1 clubs which means Glasgow cannot meet another top seed in the group stage.

Glasgow Warriors celebrate victory after the United Rugby Championship final against Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

The other three clubs in Tier 1 will be Stade Toulousain (2024 Investec Champions Cup winners), Northampton Saints (2024 English Gallagher Premiership winners) and the 2024 French Top 14 winners, who won’t be known until Friday night when Toulouse take on Bordeaux in the final. If Toulouse win, the final Tier 1 place will go to Leinster, the Champions Cup runners-up.

The format for next season’s Champions Cup is the same as 2023-24, with the pool stage made up of four groups of six teams. Each Tier 1 club will be drawn into a different pool. The remaining 20 clubs are classed as Tier 2 and will then be drawn or allocated into the pools in accordance with what the organisers call “key principles”. These are designed to ensure a spread of teams from different territories in each group and mean that each pool of six will contain two clubs from each of the leagues.

Also, clubs from the same URC Shield cannot be in the same pool. Therefore, the Irish qualifiers – Munster, Leinster and Ulster – will each be drawn or allocated into separate pools, and similarly, the Bulls, Stormers and Sharks from South Africa cannot be in the same pool. Glasgow cannot be in the same pool as Benetton as both are in the Scottish-Italian Shield.

There will be no matches between clubs from the same league in the pool stage. Each club will play four group matches against four different clubs who are not from the same league, two at home and two away.

The top four from each pool will qualify for the round of 16 as the competition moves into a straight knockout format, with home advantage going to the highest ranked side. The final of the 2024-25 Champions Cup will take place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday, May 24 next year. Glasgow reached the last 16 of the Champions Cup in the 2023-24 season where they lost to Harlequins at Twickenham Stoop. They have never gone beyond the quarter-final stage.

Edinburgh will play in the Challenge Cup after finishing 10th in the URC. The second-tier competition will once again have 18 clubs – eight from the URC, six from the Top 14, two from the Gallagher Premiership and two invited clubs, Black Lion from Georgia and the Toyota Cheetahs from South Africa – competing in three pools of six.

2024-25 Investec Champions Cup qualifiers

United Rugby Championship:Glasgow Warriors, Vodacom Bulls, Munster, Leinster, DHL Stormers, Ulster, Benetton, Hollywoodbets Sharks.

Top 14: Stade Toulousain, Stade Français, Union Bordeaux-Bègles, Stade Rochelais, RC Toulon, Racing 92, Castres Olympique, ASM Clermont Auvergne.

Gallagher Premiership: Northampton Saints, Bath, Sale Sharks, Saracens, Bristol Bears, Harlequins, Exeter Chiefs, Leicester Tigers.

2024-25 Challenge Cup qualifiers

United Rugby Championship: Ospreys, Emirates Lions, Edinburgh, Connacht, Cardiff, Scarlets, Dragons, Zebre Parma,

Top 14: Section Paloise, USAP, Lyon Olympique Universitaire, Aviron Bayonnais, Montpellier Hérault, RC Vannes.

Gallagher Premiership: Gloucester, Newcastle Falcons.

Invited: Black Lion, Toyota Cheetahs.

2024/25 Euro competition dates

Round 1 – 6/7/8 December

Round 2 – 13/14/15 December

Round 3 – 10/11/12 January 2025

Round 4 – 17/18/19 January 2025

Round of 16 – 4/5/6 April 2025

Quarter-finals – 11/12/13 April 2025

Semi-finals – 2/3/4 May 2025

2025 EPCR Challenge Cup final – Principality Stadium, Cardiff; Friday 23 May

2025 Investec Champions Cup final – Principality Stadium, Cardiff; Saturday 24 May