Weekends Confirmed For 2009/10 European Competitions
The 15th season of European club rugby will kick-off on the weekend of October 9-11, 2009 – with the Heineken Cup set to reach a climax with the 2010 Paris final being staged at Stade de France on Saturday, May 22, 2010.
ERC, the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup organisers, have released the fixture dates for both 2009/10 tournaments, with the European Challenge Cup again set to include Thursday matches.
The fixtures are the first year of a confirmed three-year schedule for European weekends that has been agreed by all European rugby stakeholders.
The pool stages will again be played in three blocks of two rounds with the knock-out stages starting a week after the Easter weekend.
Tickets for the Paris 2010 final go on sale this coming Monday (May 25). See www.ercrugby.com for further details.
2009/10 HEINEKEN CUP AND EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP WEEKENDS:
(Please note that the dates are the Saturday of the relevant weekend)
2009:
ROUND 1 – October 9/10/11
ROUND 2 – October 16/17/18
ROUND 3 – December 11/12/13
ROUND 4 – December 18/19/20
2010:
ROUND 5 – January 15/16/17
ROUND 6 – January 22/23/24
QUARTER-FINALS – April 9/10/11
SEMI-FINALS – May 1/2
Paris 2010 Heineken Cup Final – May 22
European Challenge Cup Final – May 21/22/23