Rugby Cup for world’s top 16 clubs EXCLUSIVE
EUROPEAn rugby chiefs have been given a mandate to set up a revolutionary World Champions Cup tournament with the southern hemisphere. Planning is already under way to launch a competition featuring the best 16 club sides in the world — and it could begin as soon as 2022. Bosses from the Premiership, Pro 14 and French leagues are driving the project that was first presented during Monday’s World Rugby Zoom forum. World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont was presented with a 40-page proposal for a club competition with the potential to generate ‘millions of pounds’ in new revenue. European Professional Club Rugby chairman Simon Halliday, who has been instructed by clubs, outlined the plans to Sportsmail. The tournament would be staged
once every four years — avoiding clashes with the Lions and the world Cup — in place of the knockout stages of the Champions Cup. ‘the clubs are very united in terms of how we see things moving in the medium-term — and the world Champions Cup is a fundamental piece of it,’ said Halliday. ‘the clubs are the driving force behind this. it’s driven bottom-up by the three leagues. the English clubs aren’t just supporting it — they are part of it. ‘it would take over from the latter part of the Heineken Champions Cup. when we have an impression of what a good format will look like, we will engage with the southern hemisphere. we have total clarity in our minds that it’s what we’re going to do. ‘you’ve got a Lions tour in 2021 and a world Cup in 2023, so it won’t be either of those years. ‘the first years it could be are 2022 or 2024. we’re all trying to do things quicker because of the crisis. we need to excite the fans and generate revenue, but nothing can be done in isolation.’
Halliday added: ‘there is an attempt to revolutionise the calendar and there could be two great new tournaments — club and country — that could bring in millions of pounds of revenue.’ Meanwhile, Bath, Bristol, Exeter, sale and saracens are rushing to re-sign players on long-term deals before tomorrow’s salary cap deadline.