The new face of European Rugby

After months of negotiations, the future of European rugby has finally been sorted with all the European stakeholders agreeing the new format of the European competition for the next eight years at least.
There will be three cross border club competitions to be called The European Rugby Champions Cup, the European Rugby Challenge Cup and a new competition called the Qualifying Competition.
Both the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup will involve 20 clubs and take place over nine weekends with the final played the first weekend of May at the latest.
These competitions will be run by the European Professional Club Rugby which will replace the existing ERC and, as revealed in The Rugby Paper, will be based in Switezerland.
There will be an equal distribution of funds between the clubs from the Aviva Premiership, RaboDirect Pro12 and the Top14.
Finally, Sky and BT Sport will share the broadcasting of both the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup. The pool matches would be shared equally, both will show two quarter finals each, one semi-final each and the final would be broadcast by both live. The 4 year agreement is subject to contract.
For full details about the format of the new European competitions, click here.
For full details about the broadcasting rights, click here.
For the Premiership Rugby reaction to the announcement, click here.
For the RFU reaction to the announcement, click here.
For the ERC reaction to the announcement, click here.