Glasgow qualified for the top-tier Champions Cup and tournament organisers have scrapped the two groups of 12 system, with the 24 qualifiers now featuring in four pools, each containing six teams. There will be a maximum of two clubs from the same league – United Rugby Championship, Gallagher Premiership and French Top 14 – in each pool. And there are no matches between clubs from the same league. Each team will play four games against four different clubs who are not from the same league, either home or away, during the pool stage. The leading four clubs in each pool will qualify for the round of 16, and each fifth-placed team will drop into the European Challenge Cup knockout phase.

Glasgow reached the final of the Challenge Cup last season, losing to Toulon in Dublin, but will now make the step up to the Champions Cup after their fourth-place finish in the URC saw them win the Scottish-Italian Shield and secure qualification. The premier European tournament which will feature eight representatives each from the URC, Premiership and Top 14. The draw for the pool stage will take place on June 21 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, venue for the 2024 European finals. There will be four top seeds who will be placed in different groups: Champions Cup winners La Rochelle, league winners Saracens and Munster, and the winners of Saturday’s Top 14 final between La Rochelle and Toulouse. If La Rochelle win the Top 14 then Champions Cup final runners-up Leinster will join the top seeds. The remaining 20 clubs will not be seeded and will go into an ‘open’ draw, although there can only be a maximum of two clubs from the same league in each pool.

Edinburgh will compete in the Challenge Cup which will comprise 18 teams in three pools of six, with eight representatives from the URC, six from the Top 14, two from the English Premiership, plus two invited clubs who will be announced shortly. Last season, the South African side the Cheetahs took part in the Challenge Cup. Like the Champions Cup, clubs will play four different opponents home or away, with same-league matches being kept to a minimum, and only impacting clubs from the URC. The four highest-ranked clubs from each of the pools will qualify for the knockout stage where they will be joined by the four fifth-placed teams from the Champions Cup pool stage.

Glasgow Warriors and Toulon contested the 2023 European Challenge Cup final but both clubs will be in the Champions Cup next season. (Photo by Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

The group matches of both European competitions will be played across four weekends in December and January. The round of 16 is scheduled for the April 5-6-7, with the quarter-finals the following weekend, and the semi-finals on May 3-4-5. The finals are both at Spurs’ 60,000-capacity stadium, with the Challenge Cup on Friday, May 24, and the Champions Cup decider the following day. Bristol Bears will replace London Irish in the Champions Cup following the latter’s financial collapse.

Champions Cup qualifiers: Munster, DHL Stormers, Leinster, Ulster, Glasgow, Vodacom Bulls, Connacht, Cardiff, Saracens, Sale Sharks, Leicester, Northampton, Harlequins, Exeter, Bath, Bristol, La Rochelle, Toulouse, Racing 92, Bordeaux-Begles, Lyon, Stade Francais, Toulon, Bayonne.

Challenge Cup qualifiers: Cell C Sharks, Emirates Lions, Benetton, Edinburgh, Ospreys, Scarlets, Dragons, Zebre Parma, Gloucester, Newcastle, Castres, Clermont Auvergne, Montpellier, Pau, Perpignan, Oyonnax, plus two invited teams.

Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh to play in smaller pools in revamp of Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup