- The formats for next season's European Champions and Challenge Cup competitions have been confirmed.
- The Bulls, Sharks and Stormers will play in the Champions Cup, while the Lions and Cheetahs are in the Challenge Cup.
- The draws will take place in Dublin on Tuesday, 28 June.
European rugby's governing body, the EPCR, has confirmed the formats and qualifiers for next year's expanded Champions and Challenge Cup competitions, which include five South African franchises.
The Bulls, Sharks and Stormers will play in the top-tier Champions Cup, while the Lions and Cheetahs will contest the Challenge Cup.
There will be 24 clubs in the 2022/23 Champions Cup - eight teams from the United Rugby Championship, eight from the English Premiership and eight from the French TOP 14.
The clubs will be divided into two pools of 12 - Pool A and Pool B - and the tournament will be played over eight weekends with four rounds of matches in the pool stage starting next December when La Rochelle begin their title defence.
The eight highest-ranked clubs from each pool will qualify for the knockout stage which will consist of a Round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the showpiece final at Dublin's Aviva Stadium on 20 May 2023.
The EPCR said in a statement that the draw for the Champions Cup pools, which will be live-streamed from the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday, 28 June, will be carried out on the same lines as last season with the clubs separated into four tiers based on their rankings, while clubs from the same league in the same tier will not be drawn into the same pool.
The number 1 and number 2 ranked clubs from each league will be in Tier 1, the number 3 and number 4 ranked clubs will be in Tier 2, the number 5 and 6 ranked clubs will be in Tier 3, and the number 7 and number 8 ranked clubs will be Tier 4.
The Tier 1 and the Tier 4 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league, will play one another home and away during the pool stage, as will the Tier 2 and Tier 3 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league.
CHALLENGE CUP
Meanwhile, there will be 20 clubs in the second-tier Challenge Cup - eight from the URC, including the Lions, six from the TOP 14, five from the English Premiership, as well as the Cheetahs.
The clubs will be divided into two pools of 10 - Pool A and Pool B - and in a similar format to the Champions Cup, the tournament will be played over eight weekends with four rounds of matches in the pool stage starting in December.
The six highest-ranked clubs from each pool, as well as the ninth and 10th ranked clubs from each of the Champions Cup pools, will qualify for a Round of 16, which will be followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final at the Aviva Stadium on 19 May 2023.
The draw for the Challenge Cup pools will also take place on 28 June. The clubs will also be separated into three tiers based on their rankings, and clubs from the same league will not play against one another during the pool stage.
The number 1 and number 2 ranked clubs from each league will be in Tier 1, the number 3 and number 4 ranked clubs from each league, as well as the number 5 and number 6 ranked clubs from the URC, will be in Tier 2. The Dragons, Zebre Parma, Bayonne, Perpignan, Bath and the Cheetahs will be in Tier 3.
The Tier 1 and the Tier 3 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league, will play one another home and away over four pool stage rounds.
The Tier 2 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not from the same league, will play one another home and away during the pool stage. In order to adhere to the key principle of no same-league matches, Tier 2 clubs from the TOP 14 can only play against opposition from the URC, and similarly, Tier 2 clubs from the Premiership can also only play against opposition from the URC.
2022/23 CHAMPIONS CUP QUALIFIERS
TOP 14: Castres Olympique, Montpellier Hérault Rugby, Union Bordeaux-Bègles, Stade Toulousain, 5 Stade Rochelais, 6 Racing 92, 7 ASM Clermont Auvergne, 8 Lyon
English Premiership: Leicester Tigers, Saracens, 3 Harlequins, 4 Northampton Saints, 5 Gloucester Rugby, 6 Sale Sharks, 7 Exeter Chiefs, 8 London Irish
United Rugby Championship: Stormers, Bulls, 3 Leinster Rugby, 4 Ulster Rugby, 5 Sharks, 6 Munster Rugby, 7 Edinburgh Rugby, 8 Ospreys
2022/23 EPCR CHALLENGE CUP QUALIFIERS
United Rugby Championship: 1 Glasgow Warriors, 2 Scarlets, 3 Connacht Rugby, 4 Lions, 5 Benetton Rugby, 6 Cardiff Rugby, 7 Dragons, 8 Zebre Parma
TOP 14: 1 RC Toulon, 2 Section Paloise, 3 Stade Français Paris, 4 CA Brive, 5 Bayonne, 6 Perpignan
English Premiership: 1 Wasps, 2 Bristol Bears, 3 Worcester Warriors, 4 Newcastle Falcons, 5 Bath Rugby
Invited: Cheetahs
2022/23 key dates
Round 1 - 9/10/11 December 2022
Round 2 - 16/17/18 December 2022
Round 3 - 13/14/15 January 2023
Round 4 - 20/21/22 January 2023
Round of 16 - 31 March/ 1/2 April 2023
Quarter-finals - 7/8/9 April 2023
Semi-finals - 28/29/30 April 2023
EPCR Challenge Cup final - Friday 19 May 2023; Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Champions Cup final - Saturday 20 May 2023; Aviva Stadium, Dublin