We suspect you’ve already read our title page detailing the fascinating history of the now-gone Heineken Champions Cup. You likely noticed some really impressive stats there already, but we thought it was only appropriate to dedicate a whole article to the best teams to take part in the competition.
In this article, we will talk more about the records set by rugby trams during the run of the famous Heineken Champions Cup, or the biggest European rugby tournament.
PS: Although the Heineken Champions Cup returned in 2018 and stayed there till 2023, it was only the same in name as the organisation was different, so the Heineken era refers to the period between 1995 and 2014, so records from the Heineken era refer to that period only.
Team with Most Trophies
It only makes sense to start with the category concerning the biggest number of trophies won by a single team. You might have already guessed that the team with most wins in the competition is Toulouse. Toulouse has four Heineken Champions Cups (1996, 2003, 2005, 2010) and one European Rugby Champions Cup (2021).
Most Trophies Per Country
If you’ve been paying attention, you’d know that the country which has deliver the highest number of trophies in the championship is France.
French teams, namely Toulouse, Toulon, and Brive, collectively won seven Heineken Champions Cup trophies. If you also include trophies from the new competition, the number of wins rises to 11.
In addition, French teams were the runner-ups 11 times during the era of the Heineken Champions Cup, and 16 times if you include the European Rugby Champions Cup finals. This makes French teams the most successful teams in the tournament, having consistently qualified for finals and even winning them.
Moreover, France holds a record for the highest number of country-exclusive finals in the history of the Heineken Champions Cup and the European Rugby Champions Cup. There have been six French-only finals in both tournaments.
There is also an interesting anti-record for France. French teams Clermont and Racing 92 they have both reached the final of the tournament three times each without winning it, thus holding a record for most finals lost without a trophy.
Consecutive Wins
The team which holds the records for most consecutive wins in the Heineken Champions Cup is Leinster. The Irish rugby club was the underdog when they faced the Leicester Tigers for their first ever final. Not only did they manage to win the trophy in 2009, but they bagged the trophy in both 2010 and 2011.
They held that record until 2019 when the English Saracens won in three consecutive years, but Leinster still holds the records for most consecutive wins for the Heineken Champions Cup as the Saracens won the trophy during the European Rugby Champions Cup era.
Highest Winning Margin
There have been many exciting finals during the era of the Heineken Champions Cup where two teams were fighting till the very last second with their scores being tied or almost tied.
Who can forget the legendary final between the London Wasps and Toulouse in 2004 where the score was 20-20 for so long, only for Rob Howley from the Wasps to settle the score with late try?
However, not every final can be that close and one made history for the opposite. Fans expected the reigning champions Leinster to give their best when they faced Ulster but nobody expected the unbelievable score of 42 to 14 which became the win with the highest winning margin in the history of the competition.
Hosting Record
The record regarding the stadium to have hosted the highest number of finals during the Heineken era is held by the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The then-new stadium hosted five finals over the years (2002, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2014) which is to be expected with capacity of around 74,000.
Attendance Records
While the inaugural Heineken Champions Cup tournament did not manage to bring that many people to the stands, the following renditions of the rugby contest did. There are three impressive records associated with attendance of the Heineken Champions Cup.
The first is for overall attendance for all games of the tournament. Reportedly 1,177,064 attended games from the 2008-2007 season. The next record is for the most attended game in the history of the tournament and it’s from the same season when 82,208 attended the semi-final between Munster and Leinster at Croke Park, Dublin.
By contrast, the highest attendance of a final occurred in 2012 when Leinster faced Ulster at Twickenham Stadium, London under the watchful eyes of 81,774 rugby fans.
These numbers have not been bested yet and it seems like the new version of the tournament, the European Rugby Champions Cup, has failed to retain the popularity of the Heineken Champions Cup with its annual competition visibly underperforming when compared to its predecessor.