2013–14 Heineken Cup
The 2013–14 Heineken Cup was the 19th and final season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby.
| 2013–14 Heineken Cup | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Countries | England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales |
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin and Knockout |
| Date | 11 October 2013 – 24 May 2014 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Teams | 24 |
| Matches played | 79 |
| Attendance | 1,127,926 (14,278 per match) |
| Tries scored | 308 (3.9 per match) |
| Top point scorer(s) | Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon) (100 points) |
| Top try scorer(s) | Chris Ashton (Saracens) (11 tries) |
| Final | |
| Venue | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff |
| Attendance | 67,578 |
| Champions | Toulon (2nd title) |
| Runners-up | Saracens |
The pool stage began on 11 October 2013 and ran through to 17–19 January 2014, followed by the knockout stages culminating in the final. The final was originally to be held in France in May 2014, however the Federation Française de Rugby subsequently announced that they had withdrawn their application to host due to uncertainty over the availability of Stade de France. ERC invited the Heineken Cup participating countries to submit tenders for the right to host the Heineken Cup and Challenge Cup finals and three – England, Scotland and Wales – submitted bids. Cardiff was selected with the Heineken Cup final to be held in the Millennium Stadium on Saturday 24 May 2014 and the Challenge Cup final to be held the previous day in the Cardiff Arms Park.
Toulon – the defending champions – beat Saracens 23–6 in the final.
On 10 April 2014, following nearly two years of negotiations, an agreement for a new European club competition structure was reached. ERC will be wound up and replaced by a new Swiss-based organising body known as European Professional Club Rugby. The Heineken Cup will be replaced by a new top-tier competition, the European Rugby Champions Cup, It will continue to involve clubs from all of the top six European nations, but will feature 20 clubs instead of the 24 in the Heineken Cup. The second-tier European Challenge Cup will have a minor name change and become the European Rugby Challenge Cup, and will continue to involve 20 teams. A new third-tier competition, to be known as the qualifying Competition, will feature clubs from second-tier European rugby nations, plus Italian clubs that do not play in Pro12.