Champions Cup

Champions Cup may refer to one of many sports competitions:

European Rugby Champions Cup

The European Rugby Champions Cup is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs whose countries' national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship. Clubs qualify for the Champions Cup via their final positions in their respective national/regional leagues (Premiership, Top 14, and Pro12); those who do not qualify are instead eligible to compete in the second-tier Challenge Cup.

Introduced in 2014, the competition replaced the Heineken Cup, which had run since 1995, following disagreements between its shareholders over the structure and governance of the competition.

Toulon are the current holders of the cup, having become the first club to win three European titles in a row, while Toulouse have won the competition a record four times, the last of which was in 2010.

History

Heineken Cup

1995-1998

The Heineken Cup was launched in the summer of 1995 on the initiative of the then Five Nations Committee to provide a new level of professional cross border competition. Twelve sides representing Ireland, Wales, Italy, Romania and France competed in four pools of three with the group winners going directly into the semi-finals. English and Scottish teams did not take part in the inaugural competition. From an inauspicious beginning in Romania, where Toulouse defeated Farul Constanţa 54–10 in front of a small crowd, the competition gathered momentum and crowds grew. Toulouse went on to become the first European cup winners, eventually beating Cardiff in extra time in front of a crowd of 21,800 at Cardiff Arms Park.

Champion

A champion (from the late Latin campio) is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, and even further (artificial) divisions at one or more of these levels, as in soccer. Their champions can be accordingly styled, e.g. national champion, world champion.

Meaning

In certain disciplines, there are specific titles for champions, either descriptive, as the baspehlivan in Turkish oil wrestling, yokozuna in Japanese sumo wrestling; or copied from real life, such as the koning and keizer ('king' and 'emperor') in traditional archery competitions (not just national, also at lower levels) in the Low Countries.

Glasgow Warriors

Glasgow Warriors are one of the two professional rugby teams from Scotland. The team plays in the Pro12 and the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments along with its oldest rivals, Edinburgh Rugby. The Glasgow Warriors team plays its home games at Scotstoun Stadium. In May 2015 they won the Pro12 title and became the first Scottish team to win a major trophy in rugby union's professional era.

History

Glasgow Warriors are a continuation of the amateur Glasgow District side founded in 1872.

Reshaped as a professional club in 1996, Glasgow Warriors were originally known as Glasgow Rugby before rebranding as Glasgow Caledonians in 1998 by a merger with the Caledonian Reds. They dropped the Caledonians to become Glasgow Rugby in 2001 again and finally rebranded as the Glasgow Warriors in 2005.

Originally based at Hughenden till 2007, the Warriors moved to Firhill in 2007–2008 season (with a brief sojourn there also in 2005–06.) In the summer of 2012 Glasgow Warriors moved from Firhill to Scotstoun, which had previously been the club's training base.