"Closer than ever" - EPCR bosses confirm plans for Club World Cup in 2028

EPCR Chairman Dominic McKay and CEO Jacques Raynaud revealed the news yesterday afternoon, at Cardiff's Principality Stadium ahead of the weekend of European rugby finals.

McKay and Raynaud were delighted to reveal the latest updates for an incoming Club World Cup, that will be the first of it's kind for rugby union. The EPCR executives explained how the inaugural tournament is set for 2028, and will be played every four years like the international counterpart.

"With respect to the Club World Cup. We're in a good place. We're in a good place for that, and I'm excited about where that might lead, and we'll have perhaps a bit more news to share on that shortly. I've spoken about that in the last sort of few years as being a really important project for rugby, not just the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere, but for rugby generally, to make sure that we are creating exciting, dynamic products and competitions that bring the very best together.

"We've made some really good progress on that. I said before, that nothing's ever agreed until it's all agreed. We're much closer than ever before, to the extent that I come into this press conference room with real excitement around the likelihood of delivering something very special in 2028 and 2032. A month of rugby for the greatest players, the greatest clubs in June 2028, and we'll hopefully get to share a bit more information about that in the coming weeks."

The EPCR executives were then quizzed as to whether there are plans to take the show on the road, and pick a far flung overseas venue to host a future finals weekend. With the All Blacks recently playing Fiji in San Diego, and England set for a one-off exhibition Test this Summer in Washington DC, the EPCR bosses were asked if the competition had any plans of it's own to 'break America'.

"We often get asked that question, would you take a final, for example, to an unusual territory? Previously, we spoke about the level of interest that we had for hosting our finals week. We had over 21 countries that were bidding to host our finals from different corners of the world. We definitely think having our finals in Bilbao in Lyon will be special. And if we can deliver that wonderful Club World Cup in 2028 that will be absolutely box office in terms of creating and elevating the wonderful rugby festival over a whole month. We could see at some point in the future, taking a final to a new location.

"We're engaged in those sort of dialogs with clubs and with our leagues on a regular basis, but we've got amazing cities to think about, be that Bilbao, Lyon or Cardiff here and Marseillie. We've been in Marseille previously, and Dublin was always pretty special. So we've got a long tradition of going to special locations."

The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup are tournaments that seem to constantly evolve, with frequent format changes keeping the competitions fresh. However, so many alterations has required the rugby audience to do their homework on seedings and pool stage progressions, with McKay and Reynaud hopeful for a clear-cut format for when new (as yet unconfirmed) alterations are next introduced. The 2025/26 Champions Cup draw is scheduled for July, with the format changes to be announced that day.

"So, we'd love to make some smart changes to elevate the competition a bit further from next season. Hopefully, when the pool draw happens, I think it's maybe the beginning of July, you're (the media) perhaps all together again for the pool draw. The team will can share with you some of the improvements and developments that we want to make to further elevate these two wonderful competitions."

McKay and Raynaud then expressed how they are excited for the future of women's club rugby, with plans in place for a Women's Champions Cup. The tournament is by all accounts ready to be launched, yet EPCR have held off on the plans due to the Women's Rugby World Cup dominating the stage for 2025. Speaking on the developments and the leagues that would be involved, the EPCR bosses said;

"So, we're passionate about, about developing a women's Champions Cup." Raynaud said. "We're following very closely PWR, but also Elite One, also WER (Women's Elite Rugby) in the US, the Celtic challenge, the Latin Cup. And we have a plan, we have a concept, but we have decided to postpone it in our development, to leave room for this year's celebration, which is basically the Women's Rugby World Cup. So it's a matter of time, rather than a matter of 'if'."

With this weekend in Cardiff bringing about an end to the 30th iteration of the Champions Cup, the EPCR board members are already looking to the future for the next two years of competition. The locations for the 2026 and 2027 EPCR Finals have been confirmed, with Bilbao and Lyon set to host the respective weekends of action.