2025–26 EPCR Challenge Cup

Not to be confused with 2025–26 European Rugby Champions Cup.

The 2025–26 EPCR Challenge Cup, known colloquially as the 2025-26 European Challenge Cup^[1]will be the twelfth edition of the EPCR Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs competing in elite European competition. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this is the 30th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition.

2025–26 EPCR Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England France Georgia Ireland Italy South Africa Wales
Tournament statistics
Final
Venue	San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao
← 2024–25 (Previous)

The final will played at in San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao.^[2]

The English team, Bath Rugby, are the reigning champions, and therefore qualified for the 2025–26 European Rugby Champions Cup as a consequence. As they also have a top four domestic finish, the team will not initially defend their title, although they may theoretically join at the knockout phase.

Teams

Sixteen teams qualified for the 2025–26 EPCR Challenge Cup from Premiership Rugby, the Top 14 and the United Rugby Championship as a direct result of their domestic league performance having not qualified for the Champions Cup. Two further sides received invitations, South Africa's Cheetahs and Georgia's Black Lion.

The distribution of teams are:

• England: two teams
  • Teams in the 2025–26 Premiership season that did not qualify for the 2025–26 Champions Cup.
• France: six teams
  • Teams taking part in the 2025–26 Top 14 season that did not qualify for the 2025–26 Champions Cup.
• Georgia: one team
  • one team, invited, Black Lion
• Ireland, Italy, South Africa and Wales: eight teams
  • Eight teams in the 2025–26 United Rugby Championship season that did not qualify for the 2025–26 Champions Cup. This season, these consist of three teams from Wales (Cardiff, Dragons, and Ospreys), two from Ireland (Ulster Rugby and Connacht Rugby), two from Italy (Benetton and Zebre Parma), and one from South Africa (Lions). No Scottish team enters at the pool stage.
• South Africa: one further team
  • One team, invited, the South African team, Cheetahs, playing their home games in the Netherlands.^[3]

At the knockout stage, a further four teams will enter the competition from the 2025-26 European Rugby Champions Cup.

Entry Point	Premiership	Top 14	United Rugby Championship				Invited
—	England	France	Ireland	Italy	Wales	South Africa		Georgia
Pool stage	Exeter Chiefs Newcastle Falcons	Stade Français Lyon Montpellier Racing 92 Perpignan Montauban	Connacht Ulster	Benetton Rugby Zebre Parma	Cardiff Dragons Ospreys	Lions	Cheetahs	Black Lion

Team details

Team	Coach / Director of Rugby	Captain	Stadium	Capacity	Method of qualification
Entering at Pool stage
Black Lion	Richard Cockerill		Mikheil Meskhi Stadium	27,223	Invited
Benetton	Calum MacRae		Stadio Comunale di Monigo	5,000	URC bottom eight (10th)
Cardiff	Matt Sherratt		Cardiff Arms Park	12,125	URC bottom eight (9th)
Cheetahs	François Steyn		European venue (TBC)		Invited
Connacht	Stuart Lancaster		The Sportsground	8,129	URC bottom eight (13th)
Dragons	Filo Tiatia		Rodney Parade	8,700	URC bottom eight (16th)
Exeter Chiefs	Rob Baxter		Sandy Park	15,600	Premiership bottom two (9th)
Lions	Ivan van Rooyen		Emirates Airline Park	62,567	URC bottom eight (11th)
Lyon	Karim Ghezal [fr]		Stade de Gerland	25,000	Top 14 bottom six (11th)
Montauban	Sébastien Calvet [fr]		Stade Sapiac	9,210	Pro D2 Champions
Montpellier	Joan Caudullo [fr]		GGL Stadium	15,697	Top 14 bottom six (9th)
Newcastle Falcons	Steve Diamond		Kingston Park	11,200	Premiership bottom two (10th)
Ospreys	Mark Jones		TBC		URC bottom eight (12th)
Perpignan	Franck Azéma		Stade Aimé Giral	14,593	Top 14 bottom six (13th)
Racing 92	Patrice Collazo		Paris La Défense Arena	30,680	Top 14 bottom six (10th)
Stade Français	Paul Gustard		Stade Jean-Bouin	20,000	Top 14 bottom six (12th)
Ulster	Richie Murphy		Ravenhill Stadium	18,196	URC bottom eight (14th)
Zebre Parma	Massimo Brunello		Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi	5,000	URC bottom eight (15th)

Draw

The 2025/26 EPCR Challenge Cup will see the 18 competing clubs drawn into three pools of six. Like previous seasons, the three pools will be made up of six teams, however clubs from the same nation, cannot be in the same pool, apart from France who will have two French teams in each pool - though they will not face each other in the pool stage, and there cannot be more than three teams from the United Rugby Championship in the same pool.

Pool stage

Main article: 2025–26 EPCR Challenge Cup pool stage

Pool 1

EPCR Challenge Cup Pool 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Black Lion	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Home round of 16
2	Connacht	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Montauban	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Montpellier	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Away round of 16
5	Ospreys	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Zebre Parma	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source: EPCR^[4]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled.

Pool 2

EPCR Challenge Cup Pool 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Benetton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Home round of 16
2	Dragons	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Lions	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Lyon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Away round of 16
5	Newcastle Falcons	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Perpignan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source: EPCR^[5]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled.

Pool 3

EPCR Challenge Cup Pool 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Cardiff	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Home round of 16
2	Cheetahs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Exeter Chiefs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Racing 92	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Away round of 16
5	Stade Français	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Ulster	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source: EPCR^[6]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled.