Live European Rugby Champions Cup TV & Broadcast Schedule

The European Rugby Champions Cup, officially known as the Investec Champions Cup, is the premier annual club rugby union tournament for teams competing in Europe's top professional domestic leagues and South Africa. Organized by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), the tournament runs from October through May, gathering twenty-four qualified clubs from the Gallagher Premiership, French Top 14, and United Rugby Championship. The competition represents the pinnacle of club rugby in the Northern Hemisphere, combining elite tactical kicking, high-impact set-piece forward battles, and test-match intensity.

Top teams

Stade Toulousain stands as the most decorated club in tournament history with six titles, challenged closely by four-time champions Leinster Rugby. Stade Rochelais (La Rochelle), Union Bordeaux Bègles, and English champions Northampton Saints regularly reach the sharp end of the knockout stages, joined by historic European heavyweights like Saracens, Leicester Tigers, and Munster Rugby. South African powerhouses including the Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers provide physical and high-altitude tests, ensuring that trips to Pretoria or Cape Town match the difficulty of traditional European fortress venues like Thomond Park or Stade Ernest-Wallon.

Format

Twenty-four teams qualify on merit—eight each from the Top 14, Premiership, and URC—and are divided into four pools of six clubs. During the pool stage across four match weekends, each team plays four different pool opponents either home or away. Match points follow the standard rugby scale (4 for a win, 2 for a draw, and bonus points for scoring 4 tries or losing within 7 points). The top three clubs in each pool automatically advance to the Round of 16, with the remaining four knockout spots awarded to the four highest-scoring fourth- or fifth-placed teams across the entire table. Knockout rounds are contested as single-elimination matches hosted by higher seeds through the semifinals, culminating in the neutral-venue Champions Cup Final in May.

Viewership

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, live coverage is anchored by Premier Sports across linear and streaming platforms, with the tournament final broadcast free-to-air on ITV and ITVX, alongside Welsh-language broadcasts on S4C. In France, matches air across beIN Sports with key fixtures and the final simulcast free-to-air on France Télévisions. In South Africa, matches are broadcast live on SuperSport. In Spain, tournament action is carried on Movistar Plus+, while FloRugby streams fixtures across the United States and Canada. Uncovered territories access live streams and replays directly via EPCR TV.