Your Sharks will learn their Investec Champions Cup fate on Wednesday 1 July when the pool draws for the 2026/27 tournament takes place at the Premier Sports studios in Dublin.
Alex Sanderson’s men reached the quarter-finals of the 2025/26 Champions Cup, losing out to eventual finalists Leinster in Dublin.
But with a squad packed with exciting new signings, the Sharks Director of Rugby is targeting success on all fronts in 2026/27.
Both the Champions Cup draw and the Challenge Cup draw will be streamed live on epcrugby.com and the event, which will be co-presented by Elma Smit and Benjamin Boyet (beIN SPORTS), will start at 12.30 (UK and Irish time) / 13.30 (French and South African time).
Here’s how club rugby’s premier competition will work….
The 24 Investec Champions Cup clubs which have qualified on merit from the TOP 14, Gallagher PREM and United Rugby Championship (URC) will once again compete in four pools of six – Pool 1, Pool 2, Pool 3 and Pool 4. (See qualifiers below)
The key principles of the Investec Champions Cup draw are as follows:
- Each pool of six will contain two clubs from each of the leagues.
- Clubs from the same URC Shield cannot be in the same pool. Therefore, the Irish qualifiers – Leinster Rugby, Munster Rugby and Connacht Rugby – will each be drawn or allocated into separate pools. The same principle applies for the South African qualifiers, DHL Stormers, Vodacom Bulls and Lions.
- There will be no matches between clubs from the same league, so in order to create the pool stage fixtures, each club will play four matches against four different clubs who are not from the same league, either home or away.
For the purposes of the draw, the clubs will be divided into two tiers, Tier 1 and Tier 2. The four clubs in Tier 1 will be Union Bordeaux Bègles (2026 Investec Champions Cup winners), and the 2026 Gallagher PREM, URC and TOP 14 winners.
To start the process, the four Tier 1 clubs will be drawn with the first club out of the drum going into Pool 1, the second club out of the drum going into Pool 2, the third club out of the drum going into Pool 3 and the fourth club out of the drum going into Pool 4.
Adhering to the key principles, the remaining 20 clubs in Tier 2 will then be drawn or allocated into the pools. If a club cannot be drawn into a pool in accordance with the key principles, then the club will be allocated to the next available pool. The process will then re-start at the pool into which the initial club could not be drawn.
*2026/27 INVESTEC CHAMPIONS CUP QUALIFIERS
TOP 14: Stade Toulousain, Montpellier Hérault Rugby, Stade Français Paris, Racing 92, Section Paloise, Stade Rochelais, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Union Bordeaux Bègles
Gallagher PREM: Northampton Saints, Exeter Chiefs, Bath Rugby, Leicester Tigers, Saracens, Bristol Bears, Sale Sharks, Gloucester Rugby
United Rugby Championship: Leinster Rugby, Vodacom Bulls, Glasgow Warriors, DHL Stormers, Munster Rugby, Cardiff Rugby, Lions, Connacht Rugby
*The four Tier 1 clubs will be confirmed in advance of the pool draw.
2026/27 Match Weekends
Round 1 – 16/17/18 October 2026
Round 2 – 11/12/13 December 2026
Round 3 – 8/9/10 January 2027
Round 4 – 15/16/17 January 2027
Round of 16 – 2/3/4 April 2027
Quarter-Finals – 9/10/11 April 2027
Semi-Finals – 30 April / 1/2 May 2027
Lyon 2027 Finals Weekend, OL Stadium
EPCR Challenge Cup Final: Friday 21 May 2027
Investec Champions Cup Final: Saturday 22 May 2027
