Champions Cup: A history lesson on its 30th birthday and why Italy MUST host a future European final

The 30th Investec Champions Cup is entering the knockout stage this weekend, with each remaining club dreaming of lifting the biggest prize in European rugby.

To celebrate its momentous birthday, the final is returning to Cardiff, where the first two finals were staged, with Toulouse claiming the inaugural title.

The club, now 30 years on, has lifted the trophy on another five occasions, determined to claim a seventh and, in doing so, retain the title.

Six nations were represented during the pool stage of the competition, with only South Africa not having a representative in the knockout stage.

1995 birth

In 1995 only five nations were represented by clubs in this maiden competition.

While the countries involved in the Five Nations Committee (England, France, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) proposed the idea of the competition in December 1994, the Scottish and English clubs would be unable to compete as it had been scheduled too late for them to alter their domestic seasons.

This opened the door for Benetton Treviso and Rugby Milano from Italy, along with Farul Constanţa from Romania, to fill the vacancy.

When the competition returned for its second iteration, Edinburgh, Borders and Caledonia represented Scotland, and Bath, Harlequins, Leicester Tigers and London Wasps represented England.

It was expected that the Italian and Romanian clubs would be dropped, yet this happened to only the former Eastern Bloc nation.

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Italy as a rugby nation would kick on from this point, as their performance through the late 1990s was phenomenal, with victories at home and away against Ireland and also beating France and Scotland, who would go on to win the final Five Nations in 1999.

This earned them an invitation to participate in the Five Nations from 2000, making it the Six Nations.

The Azzurri and its clubs have been part of the rugby elite ever since, with an Italian club competing in European competition each season for the last 30 years; and for the first time this season an Italian club has qualified for the knockout stage.

Yet, while being welcomed into the rugby establishment, the nation has never had the honour of hosting a European final, Champions Cup or Challenge Cup (the second tier of European rugby competition).

Is it time to host a European final weekend in Italy?

Short answer: yes.

While Italy is not historically a major nation in the sport, it has been monumental for the sport since the country’s first international in May 1929, when they lost to Spain in Barcelona.

Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1934, Italy was one of the nations to set up Rugby Europe, along with the likes of Spain, Catalonia and Romania.

While being a second-tier nation for most of its history, Italian rugby has drastically evolved over the last 30 years.

Despite never qualifying for the knockout stage of a World Cup, finishing in the top half of the Six Nations, or witnessing either of their clubs claim a domestic title.

However, the country has shown signs that they are as close as they have ever been to the elite level of rugby, as demonstrated in Benetton’s qualification for the knockouts, Italy’s recent Six Nations campaigns, and both clubs’ relatively impressive seasons to this point in the URC.

Bilbao finals

The Italian Rugby Federation may look on in envy that Spain in 2018 hosted the finals of the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup in Bilbao.

The same venue is set to host the 2026 finals, and while it was a wonderful occasion as Leinster claimed their fourth title against Racing 92 and Cardiff were the Challenge Cup victors, Italians may be wondering why a country with no representative in the competition can host a final twice before they have even had the privilege.

While the San Mamés Stadium has a capacity of 53,000 and the city of Bilbao can offer a unique culture for fans, Italy does too.

The standout venue is the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Home to the national rugby team of Italy, with a capacity of 70,000.

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For a weekend of European finals, it would be a fine venue, allowing fans to soak in the history and culture of the country’s capital city as they also take in the culminating match of that season’s Champions Cup.

Even if the EPCR decides not to opt for Rome as a venue, Italy boasts three other stadiums with a capacity of over 50,000, including San Siro (80,000), Stadio San Nicola (58,000) and Stadio Diego Armando Maradona (54,000).

The cities of Milan, Bari and Naples would be able to provide a unique experience to fans attending the occasion, as they each have unique cultures and traditions due to the nature of Italian history, a relatively young country with its risorgimento in 1871.

Worthy host

Italian cities have provided memorable sporting spectacles previously and created new memories for an entire generation of rugby fans.

One of the most memorable competitions was Italia 90, with it holding a special place in many people’s hearts, particularly the Irish.

And evidenced by the Champions League, the footballing equivalent of the Champions Cup, Italy has hosted a number of memorable finals, including an all-Madrid affair between Real and Atletico in 2016, the Liverpool success over Roma in the Stadio Olimpico in 1984 and the 2009 final between Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.

As the sport looks to grow and gather a new audience, as witnessed in the proposed idea of an international league system with relegation and promotion, the United States of America is set to host the World Cup in 2031, and with the recent news of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE contemplating hosting the 2035 iteration of that competition.

These initiatives, along with the 2018 and 2026 finals in the Basque region of Spain, should encourage the Italians to attain the honour of hosting the European finals to help garner excitement for the sport in the country and, in turn, hope this can bring further development for Italian rugby.

While rumours of a final being set in the San Siro in 2015 never came to pass, the time may be now for the Stivale to capitalise on the favourable conditions to secure the right to host a future European Cup final.

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