The future of European club rugby was resolved on Thursday with a new elite competition replacing the Heineken Cup, putting an end to a dispute that rumbled on for nearly two years and threatened to tear the northern hemisphere’s game apart.
The new European Rugby Champions Cup, which is to be run by a Swiss-based association called “European Professional Club Rugby” (EPCR), instead of current organizers European Rugby Cup (ERC), is to consist of teams from the Six Nations countries.
Under its new guise the competition, starting in the 2014-2015 season, is to involve 20 teams, with six qualifying from each of the English Premiership and French Top 14, and seven from the Pro12, which includes teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Italy, EPCR said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
A minimum of one team from each of the Pro12 countries will be guaranteed a place in the competition, while the remaining spot will be decided by a playoff between the seventh-placed teams in England and France in the first season, and will include two further teams from the Pro12 after that.
Five pools of four teams are to play each other home and away, with the section winners and three best runners-up progressing to the quarter-finals.
The second-tier Amlin Cup is to be replaced by the 20-team European Rugby Challenge Cup, featuring 18 clubs from the top three leagues and a further two from outside.
A third competition, called The Qualifying Competition, is to involve between eight and 12 teams, two from Italy and others from second-tier nations.
The winners of the Challenge Cup is to be guaranteed a spot in the premier competition the following season, regardless of where they finish in the league.
There is a minimum eight-year deal among the stakeholders, with income — the distribution of which was one of the major contributors to previous disagreements — divided so that the Top 14, Premiership and Pro12 teams each get a third, with the latter guaranteed a minimum amount for the first five years.
BT and Sky have reached an agreement in principle regarding the broadcast of the top two competitions, which is to be shared.
“The benefits will be seen far and wide, from the clubs to the supporters, sponsors and everyone who has followed the fabulous mix of high-class rugby and good-natured rivalry — all played out in many spectacular towns and cities in Europe,” England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) chairman Bill Beaumont said in a statement.
The long-running battle with the ERC started in June 2012 when English Premiership and French Top 14 clubs raised concerns over who organizes the elite competition, who plays in it and how much teams get paid.
English and French clubs said they would form a breakaway competition after making no headway in negotiations with the Celtic unions over qualification criteria and income distribution, with Scottish, Welsh, Irish, French and Italian unions saying they were committed to the existing structure.
In December last year, the chairmen of the 12 English Premiership clubs said they would not compete in next season’s Heineken Cup, despite French sides being convinced by their union to withdraw from the breakaway group.
The existing format had been in existence since 1995, with French club Toulouse winning the Heineken Cup, European club rugby’s top prize, four times, more than any other side.
The signatories to the new agreement are the Six Nations unions, plus the club bodies for England, France and Wales.
“This is an excellent outcome for all concerned, most importantly the players and supporters who have made European rugby what it is today,” RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie said in a statement.
“This equitable, long term agreement will provide the platform for rugby union to continue to expand across Europe, increasing interest and involvement in the game at all levels,” he added.
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
Stade Rennais, four days after firing coach Habib Beye, stunned Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on Friday, snapping the defending champions’ seven-match winning run in French Ligue 1. Second-placed RC Lens could leapfrog the champions and retake top spot last night after press time if they beat Paris FC in the capital. PSG started brightly, with Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue carving openings to no avail. Rennes fired Beye on Monday and promoted his assistant Sebastien Tambouret, and the same players who had lost four games on the bounce seemed transformed. Jordanian forward Mousa al-Tamari bagged the opener, unleashing a fierce strike
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
Manchester City FC halved Arsenal FC’s lead at the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 home defeat of Fulham FC, and Aston Villa FC stayed in the frame with a late 1-0 victory at home to Brighton and Hove Albion FC on Wednesday. Nottingham Forest FC squandered a chance to put some distance between themselves and the bottom three as they drew 0-0 at home to bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers FC. Second-from-bottom Burnley FC pulled off a remarkable 3-2 comeback win over Crystal Palace FC to boost their slender survival hopes. City have little margin for error in their pursuit
RSS