Who has won the most European Champions Cup titles?

Brad Newcomb

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Last updated: 18 Jul 2024

Brad Newcomb 18 Jul 2024

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A look at the history of the Investec Champions Cup
Who has won the most Investec Champions Cups?
Guide to the most successful teams in the Investec Champions Cup

A look at the history of the Investec Champions Cup (Getty Images)

The European Rugby Champions Cup is the pinnacle club rugby competition in the world, featuring elite teams and the finest players from across the globe, clashing in group games and knockout matches every year to determine the winner.

The European Rugby Champions Cup, known as the Heineken Cup in 1995, began as a twelve-team competition representing Ireland, Wales, Italy, France, and Romania.

The teams that participated in the inaugural Heineken Cup season included Benetton Treviso, Bordeaux, Castres, Cardiff, Farul Constanta, Leinster, Munster, Pontypridd, Rugby Milano, Swansea, Toulouse, and Ulster, with Toulouse defeating Cardiff 21–18 in the final after extra time to become the inaugural champions of the competition.

The Heineken Cup expanded the following season, as clubs from England and Scotland, including Bath, Harlequins, Leicester Tigers, London Wasps, Borders, Caledonia, and Edinburgh, with Brive beating Leicester Tigers 28-9 in the final.

Leicester Tigers became the first club to win back-to-back Heineken Cups in 2002 and 2003 before Leinster equalled that feat in 2011 and 2012.

Leicester Tigers rugby — Leicester Tigers became the first club to win back-to-back Heineken Cups in 2002 and 2003 (Getty Images)

However, the following season, Toulon became the only side to win three consecutive European Rugby Champions Cup titles from 2013 to 2015.

The last four seasons have seen three teams battling it out for supremacy in what is now called the Investec Champions Cup from 2024, with Toulouse and La Rochelle winning twice and Leinster losing three successive finals.

In its current format, 24 clubs, made of eight teams from the English Premiership, the Top 14, and the United Rugby Championship, are divided into four groups of six and will play two games at home and two away within the same pool, except against a team from their own league.

The top four teams in the standings in each group at the end of the round-robin matches enter the round of 16, with the top two teams from each group receiving home fixtures.

A victory earns a team four points, a draw two points and a bonus point is awarded for scoring four or more tries or for losing a match by seven points or less.

Below is the list of the most successful teams to have won the European Rugby Champions Cup.

Teams	No. of Titles
Toulouse	6
Leinster	4
Saracens	3
Toulon	3
Leicester Tigers	2
Munster	2
La Rochelle	2

Some established teams that have never won the European Rugby Champions Cup include:

Clermont
Racing 92
Stade Francais

Brad graduated from the University of South Africa with a Bcom-Management Accounting degree and has a financial background.

His love of sport has seen him venture down the road of researching sporting history for the past several years, specifically boxing, cricket and football.

Other sports of particular interest are golf, tennis, horse racing and motorsports.

Additionally, he spends his time researching the military history of his home country of South Africa.

He is an ardent Liverpool supporter and is known to DJ and release music on occasion.