The 2022–23 European Rugby Champions Cup was the ninth season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) for teams from the top five nations in European rugby and South Africa. It was the 28th season of pan-European professional club rugby competition.
Dutch beer brand Heineken continued as the title sponsor of the competition, extending their deal after their previous agreement expired at the end of the 2021–22 season.[1]
This was the first year to feature the top teams from South Africa, following the inaugural United Rugby Championship season.
The top side in each of the four regional shields from the United Rugby Championship (one Irish, one Welsh, one South African and one either Scottish or Italian), along with the remaining top four ranked clubs regardless of nation, within the league, that didn't win their respective shield.[4] If the club that wins the championship has not qualified by the methods above then that club, the four shield winners and the remaining top three ranked clubs regardless of nation, within the league, that didn't win their respective shield will qualify.[5]
Below is the list of coaches, captain and stadiums with their method of qualification for each team.
Note: Placing shown in brackets, denotes standing at the end of the regular season for their respective leagues, with their end of season positioning shown through CH for Champions, RU for Runner-up, SF for losing Semi-finalist, and QF for losing Quarter-finalist.
For the purposes of the pool draw, the 24 clubs were separated into tiers based on their league finishing position, and clubs from the same league in the same tier were not drawn into the same pool. The number 1 and number 2 ranked clubs from each league are in Tier 1, the number 3 and number 4 ranked clubs are in Tier 2, the number 5 and 6 ranked clubs are in Tier 3, and the number 7 and number 8 ranked clubs are in Tier 4.
In effect, each pool contains one team from each of the three leagues, from each of the four tiers.
Pool play will feature the Tier 1 teams playing the Tier 4 teams in their pool twice, home and away, while the Tier 2 and 3 clubs will follow in a similar manner. However a team will not play the relevant team from its own league i.e. the tier 1 French team will play the tier 4 English and tier 4 URC team in its pool, but will not play the tier 4 French team in its pool. Each team will therefore play four pool games over four match weekends.
As with the previous two seasons, the 24 teams will play four rounds of pool matches. These will take place from 9–18 December 2022 and 13–22 January 2023.[needs update] Sixteen teams will qualify for the knockout rounds. In a change from the 2021–22 format, the round of 16 contests will take the form of a single match rather than a two-legged tie.[12]
The eight teams from each pool with the best points will qualify for the knockout stage, a single-leg single-elimination bracket of 16 teams. Teams finishing 9th and 10th after pool play will join the Challenge Cup, also at the round of 16 stage (joining twelve qualifiers from the Challenge Cup pool stage), once more in a single-leg single-elimination bracket. Last season's home-and-away two-legged round of 16 has not been continued.
Locations of South African teams of the 2022–23 European Rugby Champions Cup group stage. Red: Pool A; Blue: Pool B.
Teams were awarded four points for a win, two for a draw, one bonus point for scoring four tries in a game, and one bonus point for losing by less than eight points.
Key to colours
Teams ranked in the top 8 of each pool advance to 2022–23 EPCR Champions Cup round of 16.
Green background (rows 1 to 8) indicates qualification places for the Champions Cup round of 16. Blue background (rows 9 to 10) indicates qualification places for the Challenge Cup round of 16. Starting table — source: European Professional Club Rugby
Green background (rows 1 to 8) indicates qualification places for the Champions Cup round of 16. Blue background (rows 9 to 10) indicates qualification places for the Challenge Cup round of 16. Starting table — source: European Professional Club Rugby
Knockout stage
The knockout stage began with the round of 16, starting on 31 March 2023, and concludes with the final on 20 May 2023.
Unlike the previous year, the round of 16 consists of a single leg of matches, consisting of the top eight ranked teams from Pool A and Pool B respectively, with the top four from each receiving home advantage.[13]
Whilst the round of 16 follows a pre-determined format, the quarter-finals include an expected home advantage to the higher ranked team. The semi-finals are to be played at a neutral venue.
Both semi-finals will be played in Europe and the highest-ranked clubs from the pool stage has country advantage. If a South African team had been ranked higher, the game would still have been located in Europe.[15]
Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.
^The lowest attendance does not include the match between Ulster and La Rochelle on 17 December 2022, which was played behind closed doors, due to the fixture's forced relocation to a neutral venue.
^Christophe Urios was sacked as head coach of Bordeaux Bègles in November 2022. His assistants, Frédéric Charrier and Julien Laïrle, took over as joint interim head coaches for the rest of the season.[6]
^Jono Gibbes was sacked as head coach of Clermont in January 2023. His assistants took charge of their final pool stage match, with Christophe Urios appointed to take over as the new head coach as of the end of the pool stage.[7]
^Mike Blair was the head coach of Edinburgh until March 2023, having taken charge of the club's pool stage fixtures, before he stepped down to transition into the role of attack coach. Steve Diamond was then appointed to take on head coaching duties for the remainder of the season, from the position of lead rugby consultant.[8]
^Steve Borthwick was the head coach of Leicester until 19 December 2022, when he departed the club to take up the role of England head coach.[9] Assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth was then appointed as the Tigers interim head coach until the end of the season.[10]
^Ulster were also forced to play one home game at the Aviva Stadium behind closed doors during the pool stages, due to the pitch at Ravenhill being frozen.[11]
^ abExeter Chiefs advanced to the quarter-finals after the scores were tied at the end of extra time, due to the try count-back rule, having outscored Montpellier by five tries to four.[14]
Red: Pool A; 
Blue: Pool B.
