Paris (AFP)
French rugby clubs, which wish to have eight clubs entered in the European Cup next season, could boycott continental competition if they do not succeed, the bi-weekly Midi Olympique said on Monday.
The 2019-2020 edition of the Champions Cup stopped before the quarter-finals, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. On the Top 14 side, if the end of the season is not yet official, professional clubs are thinking about who to qualify for the European Cup next year. And above all, how.
To avoid any controversy, French rugby would claim eight European tickets (instead of six). This would fish Toulouse, reigning French champion and 7th at the suspension of the Top 14, and Montpellier (8th), two of the clubs which provided the most international players to the XV of France between the World-2019 and the Six Nations Tournament 2020.
The EPCR, the governing body and organizer of the European Cup and the European Challenge, is in fact considering reformatting for next season. The European Cup could thus go from 18 to 20 or 24 clubs.
The presidents of the Top 14 militate for a transition from the competition to 24 teams and would be ready to go as far as boycotting, understands Midi Olympique, if they did not have the possibility of having eight qualified clubs.
© 2020 AFP