It wasn’t just the winners of the EPCR Challenge Cup and the Investec Champions Cup that were settled over the 30th anniversary finals weekend in Cardiff.
EPCR chairman Dominic McKay also declared agreement had been struck between the three major European leagues – the TOP 14, United Rugby Championship and English Premiership – as well as the seven unions from the EPCR Board and General Assembly to launch a World Club Cup competition in 2028.
Back in 1996, in the first season of the professional rugby era, Cardiff hosted the final for the first European Cup competition and now the four Welsh regions will be bidding to play on an even bigger stage in the not too distant future.
McKay believes the prospect of EPCR creating and managing a global club competition Investec every four years will be “box office” for the game as a whole.
“It was nice to be in Cardiff celebrating the 30th season of the Investec Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup and we had some great discussions over the course of the weekend talking about the future of our sport and particularly some exciting projects that relate to EPCR,” said McKay.
“One of those projects is the Rugby World Club Cup. It is something we’ve spoken about at EPCR for the last two or three years, and we’ve been trying to work our way through this project to see if we can deliver it.
“After some great meetings with representatives of our three leagues and stakeholders from seven unions, everyone is unanimous about wanting to deliver a World Club Cup – through EPCR.”
The tournament organisers of the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup – which will both continue to take place – will deliver the Rugby World Club Cup project.
Sixteen teams will qualify – eight from the Investec Champions Cup and the remainder drawn from Super Rugby Pacific and Japan.
The tournament, which will thus feature the world’s very best clubs and superstar players, will launch in June 2028, elevating the Investec Champions Cup knock-out rounds to the Rugby World Club Cup and supercharging the closing stages of the EPCR Challenge Cup.
“The Investec Champions Cup is the greatest club competition in the world, and we’re going to continue to protect that, nurture it and develop it further,” added McKay.
“We’ve got some ambitious plans for both the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, which we’ll unveil over the coming weeks. And, to elevate the whole of professional club rugby, we want to create this World Club Cup proposition in 2028 and 2032 with our friends from the South.
“We have these incredible competitions that we own and operate, and we want to find a way to elevate them further and bring in teams from Australia, from New Zealand, from Japan, and we’ll do that through the World Club Cup.
“So, once every four years, starting off in 2028, we’re going to bring the greatest clubs from the southern hemisphere to battle it out against the greatest clubs in the northern hemisphere. Who wouldn’t want to find out who the greatest club in the world is as a consequence of that.
“Our stakeholders, our leagues, and our unions are so excited about EPCR delivering a World Club Cup. We’ll be sharing more information over the course of the summer, and we’ll do that in conjunction with our friends from the south.
“To reassure everyone, we’ve thought about this from a player’s perspective, from a fan’s perspective, and from a future fan’s perspective. We believe the fans of the future want to see the greatest clubs come together.
“They already have that in Europe and South Africa for the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, so we want to broaden the family a bit further. It promises to be absolutely box office.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled that our stakeholders are supporting us and we look forward to sharing more information with the players and our fans in the coming weeks and months.”