European Professional Club Rugby on 1 July unveiled the pool draw for the 2025–26 Investec Champions Cup, placing the 24 qualified teams into four groups of six. Reigning champion Union Bordeaux-Bègles will face last season’s runner-up Northampton Saints in Pool 4, alongside Scarlets, Pau, Bristol Bears and the Pretoria-based Bulls. Top 14 winner Stade Toulousain heads Pool 1 with fellow French side Clermont Auvergne, three-time European champion Saracens, the Durban-based Sharks, Glasgow Warriors and Sale Sharks. Pool 2 features Premiership holder Bath Rugby, RC Toulon, Munster, Castres, Edinburgh and Gloucester, while Pool 3 reunites four-time champion Leinster with La Rochelle, its recent European rival, as well as Leicester Tigers, Harlequins, Bayonne and the Cape Town Stormers. Under the format, each club plays four matches against pool opponents from different domestic leagues; the top four in each pool progress to the round of 16, and fifth-placed sides drop into the Challenge Cup. The tournament will culminate with the final at Bilbao’s San Mamés Stadium on 23 May 2026, a day after the EPCR Challenge Cup decider. In that second-tier competition, Paris rivals Racing 92 and Stade Français landed in a demanding Pool 3 that also includes Exeter Chiefs, Ulster, Cardiff Rugby and the Toyota Cheetahs.