How the French clubs in next season's Champions Cup will be decided
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The Top 14 season was officially abandoned last week due to the impact of the global pandemic creating further doubt over whether Europe's other top competitions will return.
This includes Europe's elite competitions, the Champions and Challenge Cup. Another issue the abandonment of the Top 14 creates is the qualification of next season's Champions Cup.
LNR (the governing body of the PROD2 and TOP14) vice-president Alan Tingaud addressed these concerns Sud Radio's Rugby programme on Sunday.
Tingaud said that there would be no TOP14 champion this season although the LNR committee are yet to make that decision final.
He did reveal that the top 4 clubs will qualify for the Champions Cup next season with a playoff set to decide who will take the final places with the sides between 5th and 8th taking part.
"Les quatre premiers du Top 14 seront qualifiés pour la @ChampionsCup. Des barrages seront effectués entre les clubs classés de la 5e à la 8e place, les mieux classés recevront." a également souligné Alain Tingaud sur @SudRadio sous couvert de validation par le Comité Directeur.
— Sud Radio Rugby (@SudRadioRugby) May 3, 2020
This would mean Bordeaux, Lyon, Racing 92 and Toulon all qualify for the Champions Cup next season. La Rochelle, Clermont, Toulouse and Montpellier all facing off for the final spots.
However, this could be altered if the Champions Cup resumes with Clermont, Racing 92 and Toulouse having progressed to the playoffs of the competition.
The winner in the Champions Cup automatically qualifies for the next season's edition of the competition. If Clermont or Toulouse were to win the competition, they would take up one of those positions, opening up another spot for grabs.
As it stands, La Rochelle would face Montpellier while Clermont and Toulouse faced off. Meaning that one of either Clermont or Toulouse could miss out on Champions Cup rugby next season after the pair topped their groups this term and reached the TOP14 finals last season.
