A money-spinning rugby world club championship involving the top 16 teams from both hemispheres is gathering momentum for a 2022 kickoff, according to UK newspaper The Telegraph.
The newspaper has reported “growing optimism” and support among key stake-holders for the much talked-about world championship for clubs and franchises to finally get over the line, with hopes that it can be in place for the end of the 2021-22 season.
The competition, to be held every four years, would feature the leading eight sides from each hemisphere and be played out in a straight knockout format.
“Organisers hope that the plan, which was first proposed by the French clubs as part of their blueprint for a new global season in June, can come to fruition,” the Telegraph wrote.
The plan is for Europe’s premier competition, the Champions Cup, to remain as the showpiece of the club calendar, but in years that the world championship is being it held it would replace the knockout rounds of that event.
As The Telegraph explained, the champions of Europe’s three main domestic competitions – the Premiership, Pro14 and Top 14 – as well as the Champions Cup winners from 2020-21 would qualify for the new tournament as the first four sides from the north.
They would then be joined by the four top-ranked finishers from the pool stages of next season’s Champions Cup.
There is no detail about how the south’s top eight sides would be determined, though clearly the fluid situation with South Africa makes it complicated. It is thought the republic’s leading sides, after being cut loose by New Zealand and Australia for Super Rugby next season, could be set to align with the north.
The paper reported that proposals, including South Africa’s expected entry to the Champions Cup from 2022, were to be discussed via Zoom calls with key stakeholders. There was an “expectation that an agreement can be reached within weeks”.
“It is really exciting. Everyone is talking – World Rugby, the southern hemisphere and ourselves,” Simon Halliday, chairman of European Professional Club Rugby, the organisers of the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, told The Telegraph.
“We would like, if all the negotiations are fruitful, that the latter stages of the 2021-22 season would see the inaugural World Club Champions Cup take place. This can work without there needing to be any serious upheaval in the current calendar.
“It is under discussion and everyone seems keen but there are many key decisions yet to make. We can see how it can work for the northern hemisphere clubs but it needs to work for the southern hemisphere as well.
“We are going to be making presentations in the coming weeks to go into the details of how exactly it would work as there are a lot of moving parts. We need to make it work in the next month or so. All the leagues and unions are looking at this through a lens that says ‘we need to grow this side of the game, we are all stakeholders’ and all duty bound to look after the long-term future of the club game,” added Halliday.
