 | |
| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 (2014) |
| Headquarters | Lausanne,Switzerland |
| Chairman | Dominic McKay(From May 2022) |
| CEO | Jacques Raynaud(From June 2023) |
| Replaced | European Rugby Cup (ERC) |
| Official website | |
| www | |
European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) is the governing body and organiser of the two major clubrugby union tournaments: theEuropean Rugby Champions Cup - named theInvestec Champions Cup due to sponsorship reasons - and theEPCR Challenge Cup.[1] A third tournament, theEuropean Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition[2] was introduced as a qualification competition for clubs from minor nations to enter the Challenge Cup. EPCR shared control of this tournament withRugby Europe, the international federation for rugby union in Europe, and with theItalian Rugby Federation (FIR). The tournament was discontinued after the 2018/19 season.
The organisation was established in 2014 inNeuchâtel, Switzerland and is now headquartered inLausanne. Switzerland was chosen so as not to have the headquarters in any of the seven participating countries.[3]
EPCR has nine stakeholders – the six tier 1 unions whose national teams play in theSix Nations Championship, and the club bodies that represent the English, French, Scottish, Irish, Italian, Welsh and South African clubs in their respective leagues - currently theGallagher PREM (English clubs), theTOP14 (French clubs) and theUnited Rugby Championship (Scottish, Irish, Italian, Welsh and South African clubs).
The inaugural competitions were held in the 2014/15 season.
Prior to 2014, the pan-European club competitions - theHeineken Cup, andEuropean Challenge Cup - were organised and run byEuropean Rugby Cup Ltd. (ERC). ERC was created in 1995, following the advent of professionalism, by the then Five Nations Committee.
In 2012, Premiership Rugby andLNR, on behalf of the English and French clubs respectively, notified ERC that they would be withdrawing from the accord governing the competition, being dissatisfied with the organisation of the competition and the distribution of funding. Premiership Rugby subsequently refused to join any new agreement in which ERC remained organisers of European rugby tournaments.
On April 10, 2014 it was announced that the nine stakeholders with an interest in continuing major European club competition had come to an agreement for new competitions. Under the new agreement, ERC was wound up, and a new body, European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), would be created to organise three new competitions,European Rugby Champions Cup, theEuropean Rugby Challenge Cup, and the third tier Qualifying Competition, beginning with the 2014/15 season.[4]
Shortly after the establishment of EPCR, it was announced that the running of the inaugural 2014/15 tournament was to be handled in conjunction with ERC, the organisation it had been meant to replace, to facilitate a smooth transition. This was despite the latter having been described as "no longer fit for purpose" by chairman of Premiership Rugby, Quentin Smith.[5]
Since the 2015/16 season, EPCR staff have been running the competitions from their base in Switzerland. In 2017 the qualifying competition was reconstituted as a fully fledged third competition, the European Rugby Continental Shield.
EPCR is managed through a 9-person Board of Directors, which represents all stakeholders, and includes an independent chairman. The nine shareholders, by country, are listed below:[6]
The EPCR independent chairman is Dominic McKay, who took over as interim chairman whenSimon Halliday stepped down in October 2021. McKay was confirmed as permanent chairman in May 2022.[7]
There is also an executive committee, in charge of commercial matters relating to the tournaments, and preparations for Board meetings. This committee includes the Independent Chairman, Director-General, and three voting representatives, one representing each of the major European domestic leagues, the Top 14, the English Premiership and Pro14. Representation by English and French clubs on the three-person executive committee represents an increase in voting power for these two leagues as compared to the previous European Rugby Cup.[3]
Jacques Pineau became the interim Director General of EPCR when the tournament began, and was responsible for the day-to-day operations of EPCR.[6][8][9] On 29 April 2015, it was announced that Swiss national Vincent Gaillard had been appointed the Director General, and would work with Pineau until 1 July 2015, when he would officially take on the role.[10] Anthony Lepage was appointed to the role of CEO on an interim basis in October 2021 when Gaillard stepped down,[11] with Jacques Raynaud taking up the permanent role in 2023.
Revenues generated by EPCR tournaments are divided in three equal parts — one third to Premiership Rugby clubs, one third to LNR clubs, and one third to URC clubs.[3][12] Under the previous European Rugby Cup, the Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Italian clubs had received 52% of revenues, while the English and French clubs received 48%.[12]
Revenue is generated through commercial partnerships, broadcast deals and ticket sales from the Investec Champions Cup semi-finals and the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup Finals weekend.
Currently, EPCR has nine commercial partners:
EPCR broadcasts matches on its OTT platformEPCR.TV and also has six host broadcast partners:
Further broadcast deals ensure EPCR competitions are broadcast inover 100 territories.
In 2024 EPCR turned down a UK TV rights deal of £14m fromTNT Sports, later agreeing a £6m deal withPremier Sports (which has a much smaller audience than TNT).[13][14][15]
The European Player Award was introduced by ERC in 2010, as part of their ERC15 awards, created to recognise the outstanding contributors of the first 15 years of European rugby. The first recipient of the award, considered the best player of the previous 15 years, wasMunster Rugby'sRonan O'Gara. Following the award, and beginning with the2010-11 Heineken Cup season, ERC began presenting a Player of the Year Award annually.
EPCR continued the award after taking over the running of European competitions, and the first EPCR European Player of the Year Award was presented following the2014-15 European Rugby Champions Cup season.
The award is now known as theInvestec Player of the Year. The shortlist is decided by a panel of five rugby experts and broadcasters, and then voted for by the public and announced at the Investec Champions Cup Final.
Since 2017, the Player of the Year has been awardedThe Anthony Foley Memorial Trophy, commissioned in tribute toAnthony Foley, the formerMunster head-coach.[16]
The Elite Awards were created byERC, to celebrate the 10th anniversary season of the Heineken Cup. Introduced to recognise the most prominent teams and players of the competitions, EPCR has since maintained and continued the awards, updating them to include both Heineken Cup and European Rugby Champions Cup appearances.
| Team | Total Appearances | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 Leinster | 209 | ||
 Toulouse | 208 | ||
| Munster | 206 | ||
 Leicester Tigers | 179 | ||
| Ulster | 177 | ||
 Scarlets[n 1] | 156 | ||
 Glasgow Warriors | 145 | ||
| Northampton Saints | 138 | ||
| Montferrand / Clermont Auvergne | 133 | ||
| Cardiff Blues[n 2] | 128 | ||
 Benetton | 125 | ||
| Saracens | 122 | ||
| Wasps | 119 | ||
| Edinburgh | 118 | ||
| Bath | 118 | ||
| Harlequins F.C. | 111 | ||
| Castres Olympique | 102 | ||
| Harlequins F.C. | 101 | ||
| Stade Français | 100 | ||
| |||
| Player | Club(s) | Total Appearances | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cian Healy | Leinster | 114 | ||
| Ronan O'Gara | Munster | 110 | ||
| Gordon D'Arcy | Leinster | 104 | ||
| John Hayes | Munster | 101 | ||
| Peter Stringer | Munster,Saracens,Bath,Sale Sharks | 101 | ||
| Updated 28 May 2025 | ||||
Source:[17]
