# 2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup

The 2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup, known colloquially as the 2024-25 European Challenge Cup will be the eleventh edition of the EPCR Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs competing in elite European competition. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this is the 29th edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition.
The final will be played at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales.

## Teams

| Location of European teams ConnachtBlack LionBathNewcastleGloucesterEdinburghLyonMontpellierPauVannesPerpignanBayonneRacingScarletsOsDrCfBenettonCheetahs2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup (Europe) | Location of South African teams BullsLionsSharks2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup (South Africa) |
| Locations of teams of the 2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup. Blue: Pool 1; Red: Pool 2; Green: Pool 3; Yellow italic: Entered competition in knockout stage. ||
Sixteen teams qualified for the 2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup from Premiership Rugby, the Top 14 and the United Rugby Championship as a direct result of their domestic league performance having not qualified for the Champions Cup. Two further sides received invitations, South Africa's Cheetahs and Georgia's Black Lion.
The distribution of teams are:
* England: two teams
** Teams in the 2024–25 Premiership season that did not qualify for the 2024–25 Champions Cup.
* France: six teams
** Teams taking part in the 2024–25 Top 14 season that did not qualify for the 2024–25 Champions Cup.
* Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales: ten teams
** Eight teams in the 2024–25 United Rugby Championship season that did not qualify for the 2024–25 Champions Cup. This season, these consist of four teams from Wales, and a single team each from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and South Africa.
** Two teams invited – one each from Georgia and South Africa – with the South African team, Cheetahs, playing their home games in the Netherlands.
| Entry Point | Premiership | Top 14 | United Rugby Championship | United Rugby Championship | United Rugby Championship | United Rugby Championship | United Rugby Championship | Invited | Invited |
| — | England | France | Ireland | Italy | Scotland | Wales | South Africa | South Africa | Georgia |
| Pool stage | Gloucester Newcastle Falcons | Bayonne Lyon Montpellier Pau Perpignan Vannes | Connacht | Zebre Parma | Edinburgh | Cardiff Dragons Ospreys Scarlets | Lions | Cheetahs | Black Lion |
| Knockout stage | from 2024-25 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage | from 2024-25 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage | from 2024-25 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage | from 2024-25 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage | from 2024-25 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage | from 2024-25 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage | from 2024-25 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage | from 2024-25 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage | from 2024-25 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage |
| Knockout stage | Bath Rugby | Racing 92 | | | | | Bulls Sharks | | |

### Team details

| Team | Coach / Director of Rugby | Captain | Stadium | Capacity | Method of qualification |
| Entering at Pool stage ||||||
| Bayonne | Grégory Patat | Denis Marchois | Stade Jean-Dauger | 14,370 | Top 14 bottom six (12th) |
| Black Lion | Richard Cockerill | Luka Matkava | Mikheil Meskhi Stadium | 27,223 | Invited |
| Cardiff | Matt Sherratt | Liam Belcher | Cardiff Arms Park | 12,125 | URC bottom eight (12th) |
| Cheetahs | Izak van der Westhuizen | Victor Sekekete | NRCA Stadium, Netherlands | 5,000 | Invited |
| Connacht | Peter Wilkins | Cian Prendergast | Dexcom Stadium | 8,129 | URC bottom eight (11th) |
| Dragons | Filo Tiatia | Ben Carter | Rodney Parade | 8,700 | URC bottom eight (15th) |
| Edinburgh | Sean Everitt | Grant Gilchrist Ben Vellacott | Edinburgh Rugby Stadium | 7,800 | URC bottom eight (10th) |
| Gloucester | George Skivington | Lewis Ludlow | Kingsholm | 16,115 | Premiership bottom two (9th) |
| Lions | Ivan van Rooyen | Marius Louw | Emirates Airline Park | 62,567 | URC bottom eight (9th) |
| Lyon | Fabien Gengenbacher | Baptiste Couilloud Jordan Taufua | Stade de Gerland | 25,000 | Top 14 bottom six (11th) |
| Montpellier | Patrice Collazo | Alexandre Bécognée Yacouba Camara Arthur Vincent | GGL Stadium | 15,697 | Top 14 bottom six (13th) |
| Newcastle Falcons | Steve Diamond | Callum Chick | Kingston Park | 11,200 | Premiership bottom two (10th) |
| Ospreys | Toby Booth | Jac Morgan | Swansea.com Stadium | 20,827 | URC bottom eight (8th) |
| Scarlets | Dwayne Peel | Josh Macleod | Parc y Scarlets | 14,870 | URC bottom eight (13th) |
| Pau | Sébastien Piqueronies | Luke Whitelock | Stade du Hameau | 18,324 | Top 14 bottom six (9th) |
| Perpignan | Franck Azéma | Mathieu Acebes | Stade Aimé Giral | 14,593 | Top 14 bottom six (10th) |
| Vannes | Jean-Noël Spitzer | Clément Payen | Stade de la Rabine | 11,303 | Pro D2 Champions |
| Zebre Parma | Massimo Brunello | Danilo Fischetti | Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi | 5,000 | URC bottom eight (16th) |
| Entering at Knockout Stage (transferred from Champions Cup) ||||||
| Bath | Johann van Graan | Ben Spencer | Recreation Ground | 14,509 | Champions Cup Pool 2 5th place |
| Bulls | Jake White | Marcell Coetzee | Loftus Versfeld | 51,762 | Champions Cup Pool 3 5th place |
| Sharks | John Plumtree | Lukhanyo Am | Hollywoodbets Kings Park | 52,000 | Champions Cup Pool 1 5th place |
| Racing 92 | Stuart Lancaster | Henry Chavancy | París La Défense Arena | 30,680 | Champions Cup Pool 4 5th place |

## Pool stage

Teams were drawn into pools on 2 July in Cardiff. Teams were awarded four points for a win, two for a draw, one for scoring four tries in a game, and one for losing by less than eight points.

### Pool 1

EPCR Challenge Cup Pool 1 :
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Connacht (1) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 154 | 73 | +81 | 25 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 20 | Home round of 16 |
| 2 | Lyon (5) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 150 | 118 | +32 | 21 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 14 | Home round of 16 |
| 3 | Perpignan (8) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 92 | +8 | 12 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 11 | Home round of 16 |
| 4 | Cardiff (16) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 91 | 98 | −7 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 7 | Away round of 16 |
| 5 | Cheetahs | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 73 | 132 | −59 | 10 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 6 | Zebre Parma | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 70 | 125 | −55 | 10 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |

### Pool 2

EPCR Challenge Cup Pool 2 :
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Montpellier (2) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 131 | 41 | +90 | 19 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 19 | Home round of 16 |
| 2 | Ospreys (4) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 111 | 116 | −5 | 16 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 15 | Home round of 16 |
| 3 | Pau (7) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 119 | 108 | +11 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 12 | Home round of 16 |
| 4 | Lions (14) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 122 | 103 | +19 | 18 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 10 | Away round of 16 |
| 5 | Dragons | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 61 | 116 | −55 | 8 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 6 | Newcastle Falcons | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 55 | 115 | −60 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |

### Pool 3

EPCR Challenge Cup Pool 3 :
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Edinburgh (3) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 127 | 67 | +60 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 16 | Home round of 16 |
| 2 | Bayonne (6) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 125 | 101 | +24 | 18 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 14 | Home round of 16 |
| 3 | Scarlets (13) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 97 | 94 | +3 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 11 | Away round of 16 |
| 4 | Gloucester (15) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 82 | 115 | −33 | 12 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 9 | Away round of 16 |
| 5 | Vannes | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 115 | 108 | +7 | 14 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| 6 | Black Lion | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 71 | 132 | −61 | 6 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |

## Knockout stage

The knockout stage begins with a single-leg round of 16 matches, consisting of the top 4 teams from each pool, and the teams ranked 5th in each pool of the 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup. The round of 16 follows a pre-determined format, while the quarter-finals and semi-finals guarantee home advantage to the higher-ranked team.

### Seeding

| Rank | Team | Pts | Diff | TF |
| Pool leaders |||||
| 1 | Connacht | 20 | +81 | 25 |
| 2 | Montpellier | 19 | +90 | 19 |
| 3 | Edinburgh | 16 | +60 | 18 |
| Pool runners-up |||||
| 4 | Ospreys | 15 | -5 | 16 |
| 5 | Lyon | 14 | +32 | 21 |
| 6 | Bayonne | 14 | +24 | 18 |
| Top two third placed teams |||||
| 7 | Pau | 12 | +11 | 10 |
| 8 | Perpignan | 11 | +8 | 12 |
| Champions Cup teams |||||
| 9 | Racing 92 | 9 | −12 | 12 |
| 10 | Bath Rugby | 7 | −12 | 14 |
| 11 | Bulls | 5 | −29 | 12 |
| 12 | Sharks | 5 | −87 | 10 |
| Third best third placed team |||||
| 13 | Scarlets | 11 | +3 | 13 |
| Fourth placed teams |||||
| 14 | Lions | 10 | +19 | 13 |
| 15 | Gloucester | 9 | −33 | 12 |
| 16 | Cardiff | 7 | −7 | 13 |

### Bracket

| Round of 16 | Round of 16 |
| 1 | Connacht |
| 16 | Cardiff |
| 8 | Perpignan |
| 9 | Racing 92 |
| 4 | Ospreys |
| 13 | Scarlets |
| 5 | Lyon |
| 12 | Sharks |
| 2 | Montpellier |
| 15 | Gloucester |
| 7 | Pau |
| 10 | Bath Rugby |
| 3 | Edinburgh |
| 14 | Lions |
| 6 | Bayonne |
| 11 | Bulls |

### Round of 16

* 4 April 2025 20:00
| Edinburgh (3) | v | (14) Lions |
* Edinburgh Rugby Stadium, Edinburgh Referee: Ludovic Cayre (France)
* 4 April 2025 21:00
| Pau (7) | v | (10) Bath Rugby |
* Stade du Hameau, Pau Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
* 5 April 2025 13:30
| Bayonne (6) | v | (11) Bulls |
* Stade Jean-Dauger, Bayonne Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)
* 5 April 2025 18:30
| Montpellier (2) | v | (15) Gloucester |
* GGL Stadium, Montpellier Referee: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
* 5 April 2025 20:00
| Connacht (1) | v | (16) Cardiff |
* Dexcom Stadium, Galway Referee: Luc Ramos (France)
* 5 April 2025 21:00
| Perpignan (8) | v | (9) Racing 92 |
* Stade Aimé Giral, Perpignan Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
* 6 April 2025 17:30
| Ospreys (4) | v | (13) Scarlets |
* Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
* 6 April 2025 18:30
| Lyon (5) | v | (12) Sharks |
* Stade de Gerland, Lyon Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)

### Quarter-finals

* 11 / 12 / 13 April 2025
* v
* (Higher-ranked team home venue)
* 11 / 12 / 13 April 2025
* v
* (Higher-ranked team home venue)
* 11 / 12 / 13 April 2025
* v
* (Higher-ranked team home venue)
* 11 / 12 / 13 April 2025
* v
* (Higher-ranked team home venue)

### Semi-finals

* 2 / 3 / 4 May 2025
* v
* (Higher-ranked team home venue)
* 2 / 3 / 4 May 2025
* v
* (Higher-ranked team home venue)

### Final

* 23 May 2025
* v
* Principality Stadium, Cardiff

## Leading scorers

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

## Discipline
### Citings/bans

| Player | Match | Citing date | Law breached | Result |
| Alessandro Fusco | Zebre Parma vs. Lyon (Round 2 – 14 December 2024) | 17 December 2024 | 9.18 – Tip Tackle (Red card) | 3-match ban |
| Lado Chachanidze | Black Lion vs. Scarlets (Round 2 – 15 December 2024) | 18 December 2024 | 9.18 – Tip Tackle (Red card) | Red card rescinded |
| Giorgi Tsutskiridze | Black Lion vs. Scarlets (Round 2 – 15 December 2024) | 18 December 2024 | 9.28 – Match Official Abuse (Citing) | 2-match ban |
Notes:
* ↑ The cited player's club is listed in bold italics.