The 2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 14th season of the European Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from six nations in European rugby. It started on 8 October 2009 at Sixways Stadium in Worcester with Worcester Warriors hosting Montpellier, and ended with the final at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on 23 May 2010. The reigning champions were Northampton Saints, who did not defend their title as they qualified for the 2009–10 Heineken Cup. Cardiff Blues won the trophy after a 28-21 win against Toulon.
The 2010–11 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 15th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second tier club rugby union competition, and the second to be sponsored by the British insurance company Amlin. The tournament began on 7 October 2010, with the final played on 20 May 2011 at Cardiff City Stadium, the day before the 2011 Heineken Cup Final in the same city at Millennium Stadium. A total of 23 teams from six countries participated. The competition began with 20 teams; three more teams that began their seasons in the Heineken Cup parachuted into the knockout stage. Cardiff Blues did not defend their title, as by winning the 2009–10 cup, they qualified for the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, and did not parachute into the Challenge Cup.
The 2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup pool stage was the opening stage of the 14th season of the European Challenge Cup, the second-tier competition for European rugby union clubs. It began on 8 October 2009 when Worcester Warriors hosted Montpellier and ended on 24 January 2010 with the Leeds Carnegie / Bourgoin fixture.
The 2010–11 Amlin Challenge Cup pool stage was the opening stage of the 15th season of the European Challenge Cup, the second-tier competition for European rugby union clubs. It began on 7 October 2010 at Kingston Park in Newcastle with a match between Newcastle Falcons and Bourgoin, and was completed on 23 January 2011.
The 2008–09 European Challenge Cup pool stage was the opening stage of the 13th season of the European Challenge Cup, the second-tier competition for European rugby union clubs. It began on 9 October 2008 when RC Toulon hosted Northampton Saints and ended with two games on 25 January 2009.
The 2007–08 European Challenge Cup pool stage was the opening stage of the 12th season of the European Challenge Cup, the second-tier competition for European rugby union clubs. It began on 8 November 2007 when Sale Sharks hosted Montpellier and ended with the Newcastle Falcons / El Salvador game on 20 January 2008.
The 2011–12 Heineken Cup pool stage was the first stage of the 17th season of the Heineken Cup, Europe's top competition for rugby union clubs. It involved 24 teams competing for eight quarter-final berths, awarded to the winners of each of six pools plus the two top-ranked second-place teams. The nest three best runners-up were parachuted into the Amlin Challenge Cup.
The 2011–12 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 16th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second tier club rugby union competition. The tournament began with two matches on 10 November 2011 and ended with the final on 18 May 2012 at the Twickenham Stoop in London. A total of 23 teams from six countries participated—20 in the pool stage, plus three teams parachuting into the knockout stages from the Heineken Cup. In an all-French final, Biarritz claimed their first Challenge Cup, defeating Toulon 21–18. The Basque club claimed a place in the 2012–13 Heineken Cup, which will be their 13th consecutive appearance in Europe's top club competition.
The 2012–13 Heineken Cup was the 18th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The tournament began with two pool matches on 12 October 2012 and ended with the final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 18 May 2013.
The 2012–13 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 17th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second tier club rugby union competition. A total of 23 teams participated — 20 in the pool stage, plus three teams parachuting into the knockout stages from the Heineken Cup. The original 20 teams represented six different countries.
The 2012–13 Amlin Challenge Cup pool stage was the opening stage of the 17th season of the European Challenge Cup, the second-tier competition for European rugby union clubs. It began with a match between Mont-de-Marsan and Gloucester on Thursday 11 October 2012 and ended on 19 January 2013 when Stade Français hosted competition newcomers London Welsh.
The 2005–06 European Challenge Cup pool stage was the opening stage of the tenth season of the European Challenge Cup, the second-tier competition for European rugby union clubs. It began with all twenty teams playing on 22 October 2005 and ended when Bristol hosted Narbonne on 22 January 2006.
The 2013–14 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 18th and final season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second tier club rugby union competition. A total of 23 teams participated: 20 in the pool stage, plus three teams parachuting into the knockout stages from the Heineken Cup. The original 20 teams represented six different countries.
The European Rugby Champions Cup is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs whose countries' national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship. Clubs qualify for the Heineken Champions Cup via their final positions in their respective national/regional leagues or via winning the second-tier Challenge Cup; those who do not qualify are instead eligible to compete in the second-tier Challenge Cup.
The European Rugby Challenge Cup is an annual European rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for European clubs behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception in 1996 to 2014, it was known as the European Challenge Cup and governed by European Rugby Cup (ERC). Following disagreements in the structure of the tournament's format and division of revenue, the English and French leagues withdrew to form the EPCR, which has organized the Challenge Cup and the Champions Cup since the 2014–15 season.
The 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup was the second edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual pan-European rugby union competition for professional clubs. It is also the 20th season of the Challenge Cup competition in all forms, following on from the now defunct European Challenge Cup. Due to the 2015 Rugby World Cup taking place during September and October 2015, the competition began slightly later than usual, with the first round of the group stage, on the weekend of 12/13/14/15 November 2015, and ended with the final on 13 May 2016 in Lyon.
The 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup was the third edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Clubs from six European nations plus one Russian club competed. It was also the 21st season of the Challenge Cup competition in all forms, following on from the now defunct European Challenge Cup.
The 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup pool stage was the first stage of competition in the third season of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
The 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup is the fifth edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this is the 23rd edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition. Clubs from five of the nations that participate in the Six Nations Championship, with Scotland as the only exception, plus Romania and Russia are competing.
The 2018–19 European Rugby Champions Cup is the fifth season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (ECPR) for teams from the top six nations in Europe. It is the 24th season of pan-European professional club rugby competition. This competition will be the first to be sponsored by Heineken since the 2013–14 season.
