Exclusive: Rugby World Champions Cup set to be mothballed
Plans for a rugby World Champions Cup are this week expected to be mothballed over calendar constraints and costs, City PM can reveal.
Plans for a World Champions Cup – akin to the Fifa Club World Cup – were announced in 2025 with an inaugural competition set to be held in 2028.
But a board meeting of EPCR bigwigs is this week set to vote to delay the plans to beyond 2030 — and potentially indefinitely.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the talks said that a mix of rugby’s already congested calendar and existing costs in the club game will be cited as reasons for the postponement.
The project had been discussed for a number of years between EPCR – the organisers of the Investec Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, with representatives from Prem Rugby, the French Top 14 and multi-national URC on its board – and Super Rugby Pacific, and would have seen 16 teams compete every four years to be crowned world champions.
The mothballing will be seen as a setback for EPCR, which was gunning for the competition to be up and running as soon as possible, amid moves from rival organisations – such as the also-mothballed R360 – rearing their heads.
World Champions Cup shelved
There have also been fears amongst URC, club and EPCR sources that the ongoing conflict between Iran and the United States could cause chaos for teams travelling to and from South Africa in the URC and Champions Cup, with flights via the Middle East favoured to direct routes for cost purposes.
A rugby World Champions Cup would incur hundreds of thousands of pounds in costs in travel alone. It is understood that current Champions Cup policy sees South African teams pay for all outgoing costs to play in Europe, with EPCR covering much of the cost for European teams to head to the southern hemisphere. It is not known whether there would be such an agreement in any World Champions Cup.
There remain ongoing discussions surrounding the future of the European season beyond 2030, with different leagues at odds over the potential make-up of any future Champions Cup competition.
The current heads of agreement expire in 2030 with refreshed consensus needed before then – any stakeholder can serve notice to leave the competition before 2028 with a six-week competition favoured by many.
EPCR was approached for comment but sources close to the organisation said they, the clubs and leagues – as well as partners – all believe club rugby needs a global tournament with all stakeholders working on the project for some time.