Rugby's first World Club Cup to be held in 2028
European Professional Club Rugby has announced the first World Club Cup will take place in 2028.
A tournament featuring the best club sides from both the northern and southern hemispheres, to be held every four years, has received unanimous backing from all the sport's governing bodies.
Sixteen teams will qualify - eight from the Investec Champions Cup and the remainder drawn from Super Rugby Pacific and Japan.
EPCR chairman Dominic McKay confirmed before Saturday's Investec Champions Cup final between Northampton and Bordeaux in Cardiff that an idea mooted for "the last two or three years" will now be delivered.
McKay said: "We've been trying to work our way through this project to see if we can deliver it.
"And over the last few days we've had great meetings with our Board, great meetings with our General Assembly, who represent the three leagues (the TOP14, United Rugby Championship and English Premiership) and stakeholders from seven unions, and everyone is unanimous about wanting to deliver a World Club Cup - through EPCR."
The tournament will launch in June 2028, elevating the Champions Cup knock-out rounds to the Rugby World Club Cup and "supercharging" the closing stages of the EPCR Challenge Cup, the EPCR said.
McKay added: "The Investec Champions Cup is the greatest club competition in the world, and we're going to continue to protect that, nurture it and develop it further.
"We've got some ambitious plans for both the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, which we'll unveil over the coming weeks.
"And, to elevate the whole of professional club rugby, we want to create this World Club Cup proposition in 2028 and 2032 with our friends from the south.
"We have these incredible competitions that we own and operate, and we want to find a way to elevate them further and bring in teams from Australia, from New Zealand, from Japan, and we'll do that through the World Club Cup."
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RTÉ News
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RTÉ News
16 hours ago
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"Tom Jordan will be even more motivated with the prospect that it could be his last game for the club.'Warriors finished fourth in the league-proper and come to the game as outsiders to make the final but they shouldn't be written Barclay: "Glasgow are looking good, looking sharp and are peaking at the right time, I think they will be confident going over there.'They dominated the Stormers up front last weekend which surprised a few people given the size of them, but the Warriors are so well coached now, they know how to do that. 'If you look at the coaching ticket that Glasgow have, the way they evolve and have a plan for every week, I think they'll be pretty comfortable in what they have to do as a team on Saturday.' It's fascinating that a Glasgow team that can get beaten 52-0 points over there a few weeks ago and actually people say they have a reasonable chance."Leinster: Jimmy O'Brien, Tommy O'Brien, Jamie Osborne, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe, Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Scott Penny, Jack Conan (CAPT)Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Ciarán FrawleyGlasgow Warriors: Josh McKay, Kyle Steyn (CAPT), Sione Tuipulotu, Tom Jordan, Kyle Rowe, Adam Hastings, George Horne, Jamie Bhatti, Gregor Hiddleston, Fin Richardson, Alex Samuel, Scott Cummings, Euan Ferrie, Rory Darge, Henco VenterReplacements: Johnny Matthews, Rory Sutherland, Sam Talakai, Max Williamson, Jack Mann, Macenzzie Duncan, Stafford McDowall, Jamie DobieReferee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, 54th league game)
