ERC Confirm Fixture Dates For 2008/09 Competitions
ERC, the organisers of the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup, have announced the dates for next season’s tournaments with the big European kick-off reverting to October following the later start this season due to the Rugby World Cup.
The Heineken Cup semi-finals at Twickenham Stadium and the Ricoh Arena are just a few days away with the Cardiff 2008 Heineken Cup final and climax of the 13th season of Europe’s premier club rugby tournament being staged at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, May 24 (kick-off 5pm).
And while the three biggest games of this season’s tournament have still to be played, European Rugby Cup Ltd. are already looking forward to next season’s Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup.
The 14th season of the Heineken Cup will kick-off during the second week of October – with the pool stages again played over three weekend blocks of two rounds of matches each.
The second block of pool matches will be played in early December following the autumn international matches and the final block in January.
There will be three week intervals between the quarter-finals in April and the semi-finals in May and between the semi-finals and finals on the weekend of May 22-24, 2009.
The 2008/2009 Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup weekends:
2008
ROUND 1 – October 10/11/12
ROUND 2 – October 17/18/19
ROUND 3 – December 5/6/7
ROUND 4 – December 12/13/14
2009
ROUND 5 – January 16/17/18
ROUND 6 – January 23/24/25
QUARTER-FINALS – April 10/11/12
SEMI-FINALS – May 1/2/3
FINALS – May 22/23/24