See main article: article and 2019–20 European Rugby Champions Cup.
The 2019–20 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage is the first stage of the 25th season of European club rugby union, and the sixth under the European Rugby Champions Cup format. The competition involves twenty teams, across five pools of four teams, for eight quarter-final places – awarded to the five pool winners and the three top-ranked pool runners-up. The pool stage begins on the weekend of 15–17 November 2019, and will end, following 6 rounds of games, on the weekend of 18–19 February 2020.
The twenty competing teams are seeded and split into four tiers, each containing five teams.
For the purpose of creating the tiers, clubs are ranked based on their domestic league performances and on their qualification for the knockout phases of their championships, so a losing quarter-finalist in the Top 14 would be seeded below a losing semi-finalist, even if they finished above them in the regular season.[1]
| width=5% | Rank | width=19% | Top 14 | width=19% | Premiership | width=19% | Pro14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leinster | ||||||
| 2 | Glasgow Warriors | ||||||
| 3 | Munster | ||||||
| 4 | Ulster | ||||||
| 5 | Connacht | ||||||
| 6 |  Benetton | ||||||
| 7 | Ospreys |
Based on these seedings, teams are placed into one of the four tiers, with the top-seeded clubs being put in Tier 1. The nature of the tier system means that a draw is needed to allocate two of the three second-seed clubs to Tier 1. The fourth-seed team from the same domestic league as the second-seed team which was put in Tier 2 will also be placed in Tier 2. Brackets show each team's seeding and their league. e.g. 1 Top 14 indicates the team was the top seed from the Top 14.
| width=5% | Tier 1 | width=19% | Saracens (1 Prem) | width=19% | Leinster (1 Pro14) | width=19% |  Toulouse (1 Top 14) | width=19% | Exeter Chiefs (2 Prem) | width=19% | Clermont (2 Top 14) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=5% | Tier 2 | width=19% | Glasgow Warriors (2 Pro14) | width=19% | Gloucester (3 Prem) | width=19% | Munster (3 Pro14) | width=19% | Lyon (3 Top 14) | width=19% | Ulster (4 Pro14) | |
| width=5% | Tier 3 | width=19% | Northampton Saints (4 Prem) | width=19% | La Rochelle (4 Top 14) | width=19% | Harlequins (5 Prem) | width=19% | Connacht (5 Pro14) | width=19% | Racing (5 Top 14) | |
| width=5% | Tier 4 | width=19% | Bath (6 Prem) | width=19% | Benetton (6 Pro14) | width=19% | Montpellier (6 Top 14) | width=19% | Ospreys (7 Pro14) | width=19% | Sale Sharks (CC) |
The following restrictions will apply to the draw:
The draw took place on 19 June 2019, in Lausanne, Switzerland.[2]
Teams in the same pool play each other twice, at home and away, in the group stage that begins on the weekend of 15–17 November 2019, and continues through to 17–19 January 2020. The five pool winners and three best runners-up progress to the quarter-finals.
Teams are awarded group points based on match performances. Four points are awarded for a win, two points for a draw, one attacking bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match and one defensive bonus point for losing a match by seven points or fewer.[3]
In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the following tie-breakers are used, as directed by EPCR:
| Winner of each pool, advance to quarter-finals. | ||
| Three second-place teams with the highest number of points advance to quarter-finals. |
(Q) denotes the team has qualified for the quarter-finals as the pool winners
(q) denotes team has at least qualified for the quarter-finals as one of the three highest-scoring second-place teams
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