La Rochelle and Leinster drawn in same pool for Champions Cup

David Skippers 21 Jun 2023 6:55 PM

The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup pool draws for the 2023/24 season have been revealed, with the 2022/23 Champions Cup holders, La Rochelle, drawn in the same group as the team they defeated in the final, Leinster.

La Rochelle and Leinster have been put together in Pool 4 alongside Stade Francais, Leicester Tigers, the Stormers and Sale Sharks.

Multi-pool format returns

Both the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup will be returning to a multi-pool format for the 2023/24 season. There are 24 teams split into four pools of six in the Champions Cup, while the Challenge Cup’s 18 sides have been divided into three pools of six.

Four teams per pool will advance to the knockout rounds of the Champions Cup, starting with the round of 16. There will also be two invited clubs in the Challenge Cup which will be announced in due course.

The top four sides in each group progress to the Challenge Cup round of 16, where they will be joined by the four fifth-placed Champions Cup teams.

The action for both tournaments will kick off on the weekend of 8/9/10 December and the second round is set to take place the following week. The third and fourth rounds will take place from January 12 to 21 to decide which clubs will be heading to the knock-out rounds.

During the first week of April the round of 16 will be played and the quarter-finals will take place a week later.

The semi-finals will be then be played on 3/4/5 May before the 2024 finals take place on Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

The fixtures for both the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup are set to be confirmed in due course.

POOLS HAVE BEEN DRAWN 🔥

Some huge match ups – which game are you most looking forward to? 👀

Remember, teams will play 4 Pool Stage games home or away with no repeats and no same-league clashes… pic.twitter.com/fNb25ktniB

— Heineken Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) June 21, 2023