Investec Champions Cup Draw Sets Up Final Rematch & Renews Fierce Rivalries
Investec Champions Cup Draw Sets Up Final Rematch & Renews Fierce Rivalries
The Investec Champions Cup 2025-2026 draw sets the stage for epic clashes, as Bordeaux, Saints, Leinster, Toulouse and more learn their pool stage opponents
The road to Bilbao, Spain, has just become a whole lot more intriguing.
The 2025-2026 Investec Champions Cup draw has dropped, and with it, the tantalizing prospect of a repeat of last season’s epic final.
Union Bordeaux Bègles and the Northampton Saints, who clashed in the 2024-2025 finale in Cardiff, Wales, have been thrown together in Pool 4, setting up one of the most anticipated rematches in recent memory.
- Subscribe To FloRugby To Watch Champions Cup 2025 Final
- 30 Years Of Champions Cup Finals: Here's What Happened In Every Match
- 100 Best Rugby Players In The World In 2025: Here's 100-75
- The 25 Best Rugby Clubs In The World On June 18th | FloRugby Rankings
Bordeaux-Bègles, fresh off its maiden European crown following a hard-fought 28-20 victory over the Saints in May, will be keen to defend the title.
But standing in UBB's path again is the ever-resilient Northampton outfit, which pushed the French giants to the brink at the Principality Stadium.
It's a draw dripping with storylines.
Not only does Pool 4 feature the reigning champions and their most recent runners-up, it also includes the always dangerous Bristol Bears, United Rugby Championship runners-up Vodacom Bulls, Challenge Cup returnees Section Paloise (Pau) and Scarlets, which will be a side looking to punch above its weight in Europe’s elite club competition.
On paper, Bordeaux has reason to be pleased with its draw.
While a trip to Loftus Versfeld to face the Bulls is nobody’s idea of an easy assignment, Pau and Scarlets, both of which spent last season in the second-tier Challenge Cup, represent a manageable threat for a team of Bordeaux’s caliber.
Bristol, meanwhile, will be desperate to bounce back after a disappointing European campaign last season but will need to show more consistency to make waves in this pool.
For Northampton, the draw offers a shot at redemption.
Phil Dowson's side proved itself a worthy finalist in 2024-2025 with a thrilling run that included a stunning semifinal win over Leinster. Now, the team gets the chance to settle old scores with Bordeaux, likely in front of a raucous home crowd at Franklin’s Gardens and in the cauldron of Stade Chaban-Delmas.
The structure of the competition remains unchanged: each team will play four pool matches, two home, two away, but not against clubs from their own domestic league. That means Bordeaux and Pau won’t meet in the pool stage, nor will the Saints play Bristol.
Fans will have to wait until later this month for the fixture dates and venues to be confirmed, but one thing’s certain: Pool 4 is going to deliver fireworks.
Elsewhere, the draw has served up a feast of heavyweight matchups.
Pool 1 features six-time winner Stade Toulousain and European royalty in Saracens, alongside Clermont Auvergne, Glasgow Warriors, Sale Sharks and the Hollywoodbets Sharks of Durban. That pool has “Group of Death” potential written all over it.
Bath Rugby headline Pool 2 after lifting the EPCR Challenge Cup last season.
Bath is joined by Munster, a side Bath boss Johann van Graan knows intimately, along with Toulon, Castres, Edinburgh and Gloucester.
For Bath, avoiding a trip to South Africa will be a welcome bonus, but navigating the bruising physicality of Munster and Toulon will test its mettle early.
Among the intriguing storylines in Pool 2 is the renewing of rivalries between Munster and Castres Olympique, which will square off for the 19th time in this competition. This frequency of head-to-heads has built up an understandable level of friction between the two sides.
Munster holds the edge with 13 wins, but Castres downed its Irish rivals in challenging conditions in the 2024-2025 season en route a home last-16 tie.
🚨 Your 2025/26 #InvestecChampionsCup Pools 🚨
— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) July 1, 2025
Some big clashes to come in the opening rounds of the competition 💪
Which game are you looking forward to? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/ObBg3hGs4v
In Pool 3, all eyes once again will turn to the fascinating rivalry between Leinster and Ronan O'Gara’s La Rochelle. These two have a heated European history, having met in three of the past four seasons, including two finals.
La Rochelle bested the Irish province in 2022 and 2023, but Leo Cullen’s men exacted a measure of revenge with a gritty 16-14 pool-stage win last term.
Leicester Tigers, Harlequins, Bayonne and the DHL Stormers round out a competitive group.
The 2025-2026 season will span eight weekends, beginning in December and culminating with a blockbuster finals weekend in Bilbao on May 22-23.
The iconic San Mamés Stadium will play host to both the Challenge Cup and Champions Cup finals, with fans hoping for another classic like the one Bordeaux and the Saints served up in May.
As the dust settles on the draw, the talking points are endless.
Can Bordeaux defend its crown? Will Northampton go one better? Is Leinster ready to shake off recent heartbreaks? Can Toulouse reclaim its crown with Antoine Dupont back in the lineup?
All will be revealed over the eight action-packed weekends of world-class club rugby.
How To Watch Rugby Matches In The United States On FloRugby
FloRugby and FloSports also are the U.S. home to:
FloRugby also is home to match archives and match replays.