Bath Rugby will be drawn from Tier 4 in the 2019-20 Heineken Champions Cup draw, which takes place at the Centre de Congrès Beaulieu (13:00pm, UK and Irish time).
The Champions Cup draw can be streamed live on www.epcrugby.com, official tournament Facebook channels and BT Sport, with live broadcasts.
Twenty clubs from Gallagher Premiership Rugby, the Guinness PRO14 and the TOP 14 have qualified on merit for the 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup.
How the draw works
The clubs will be divided into four tiers of five and a preliminary draw will be conducted to establish Tier 1, with two of the three second-ranked clubs – Exeter Chiefs, Glasgow Warriors and ASM Clermont Auvergne – joining 2019 Heineken Champions Cup winners Saracens, Leinster and Toulouse in the top tier.
Once Tier 1 has been established, the remaining three tiers will fall into place. Tier 2 will include the three third-ranked clubs from the leagues – Gloucester Rugby, Munster Rugby and Lyon – as well as the second-ranked club which was not drawn into Tier 1 and the fourth-ranked club from the same league as the club which was not drawn into Tier 1.
Tier 3 will include the two clubs ranked fourth which are not in Tier 2 as well as the three fifth-ranked clubs from each league – Harlequins, Connacht Rugby and Racing 92.
Tier 4 is complete and contains the sixth-ranked clubs from each league – Bath Rugby, Benetton Rugby and Montpellier – as well as Sale Sharks and the Ospreys.
When the tiers are completed, the main draw for the five pools will be made, and during the draw some clubs may have to be placed directly into a pool in order to ensure that the key principles apply.
CHAMPIONS CUP WEEKENDS 2019/20 season
Round 2: 22/23/24 November 2019
Round 3: 6/7/8 December 2019
Round 4: 13/14/15 December 2019
Round 5: 10/11/12 January 2020
Round 6: 17/18/19 January 2020
Quarter-finals: 3/4/5 April 2020
Semi-finals: 1/2/3 May 2020
KEY PRINCIPLES
- The 20 Clubs which have qualified on merit from the Gallagher Premiership Rugby, the Guinness PRO14 and the TOP14 will compete in the 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup in five pools of four
- The clubs are divided into four tiers based on their performances in the knockout phases, and/or their qualification postions in their league tables. This will be done by a draw in advance of the main pool draw
- The 2019 Heineken Champions Cup winners go automatically into Tier 1
- Each pool will have at least one club from each of the three leagues
- Each of the five pools will have one club from each of the four tiers
- No pool will contain two PRO14 clubs from the same country
- Clubs from the same league will be kept apart until the allocation of the Tier 4 clubs
QUALIFIED TEAMS
Exeter Chiefs, Saracens, Gloucester, Northampton Saints, Harlequins, Bath Rugby, Sale Sharks, Glasgow Warriors, Munster Rugby, Connacht Rugby, Leinster Rugby, Ulster Rugby, Benneton Treviso, Ospreys, Toulouse, Clermont, Lyon, Racing 92, Montpellier, La Rochelle
