2025 European Rugby Champions Cup final

2025 European Rugby Champions Cup final
	The match took place at the Principality Stadium
Event	2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup
Date	24 May 2025
Venue	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Player of the Match	Maxime Lucu (Bordeaux Bègles)
Referee	Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Attendance	70,225
Weather	Roof closed

The 2025 European Rugby Champions Cup final was the final match of the 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup campaign, and the 30th European club rugby final in general. It was contested by Bordeaux Bègles and Northampton Saints on 24 May 2025.^[1]

The Millennium Stadium was the host venue, the sixth time the European final has been at the stadium, matching Twickenham Stadium's record of six finals.^[2]

Bordeaux Bègles won the final, beating Northampton Saints 28–20.^[3]^[4]

Background

For Bordeaux, this was the first time that side had made a European final, and just their second major final (having only made a domestic final once), in their history. Northampton Saints, on the other hand, was making their fourth appearance in a European final, though their first since their 2014 Challenge cup title, and their first Champions Cup final since 2011.

The two sides had only met once before in their history, coming during the 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup, where Bordeaux won 16–12 at Franklin's Gardens.^[5]

The two sides entered the final on different domestic forms; Bordeaux were sitting comfortably in the top 4 of the table in the 2024–25 Top 14 season, whilst Northampton Saints had already dropped out of the Premiership Rugby title race and therefore unable to retain their title. However, their European form had seen Northampton Saints only lose one game; a 45–35 loss to Stade Français in the pool stages.^[6] Whilst for Bordeaux, they entered the final as top seed after winning all their games in the pool stage with a bonus points before their run in the knockouts saw them progress to the final.

Route to the final

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).

Bordeaux Bègles

Round

Northampton Saints

Opponent

Result

Pool stage

Opponent

Result

Leicester Tigers

42–28 (H)

Round 1

Castres

38–8 (H)

Ulster

40–10 (A)

Round 2

Bulls

30–21 (A)

Exeter Chiefs

69–17 (A)

Round 3

Stade Français

35–45 (A)

Sharks

66–12 (H)

Round 4

Munster

34–32 (H)

Final standings

Pool 1 Top 4
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Bordeaux Bègles	4	4	0	0	217	76	+141	33	12	4	0	20
Toulouse	4	4	0	0	225	62	+163	33	9	3	0	19
Leicester Tigers	4	2	0	2	134	149	−15	20	21	3	0	11
Ulster	4	1	0	3	102	163	−61	15	24	1	0	5

Pool 3 Top 4
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Northampton Saints	4	3	0	1	137	106	+31	20	15	4	0	16
Castres	4	3	0	1	105	86	+19	13	13	2	0	14
Munster	4	2	0	2	96	69	+27	13	7	2	2	12
Saracens	4	2	0	2	91	71	+20	11	9	2	1	11

Opponent

Result

Knockout stage

Opponent

Result

Ulster

43–31 (H)

Round of 16

Clermont

46–24 (H)

Munster

47–29 (H)

Quarter-finals

Castres

51–16 (H)

Toulouse

35–18 (H)

Semi-finals

Leinster

37–34 (A)

Match

Details

24 May 2025
14:45 BST (UTC+01)

Bordeaux Bègles (1)	28–20	(3) Northampton Saints
Try: Penaud (2) 5' m, 36' m Coleman 20' c Cazeaux 55' m Con: Jalibert (1/3) 21' Pen: Jalibert (1/1) 28' Lucu (1/1) 44'	Report	Try: Coles (2) 1' c, 40' c Con: Smith (2/2) 2', 40' Pen: Smith (2/2) 24', 32'

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Attendance: 70,225
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)

Bordeaux Bègles

Northampton Saints


FB	15	Romain Buros		20'
RW	14	Damian Penaud
OC	13	Nicolas Depoortère
IC	12	Yoram Moefana		72'
LW	11	Louis Bielle-Biarrey
FH	10	Matthieu Jalibert
SH	9	Maxime Lucu (c)
N8	8	Pete Samu		67'
OF	7	Guido Petti
BF	6	Mahamadou Diaby	29' to 39'	40'
RL	5	Cyril Cazeaux
LL	4	Adam Coleman		50'
TP	3	Sipili Falatea		40'
HK	2	Maxime Lamothe		62'
LP	1	Jefferson Poirot		58'
Substitutions:
HK	16	Connor Sa		62'
PR	17	Ugo Boniface		58'
PR	18	Ben Tameifuna		40'
FL	19	Pierre Bochaton		50'
FL	20	Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer		67'
N8	21	Marko Gazzotti		40'
WG	22	Arthur Retière		20'
CE	23	Rohan Janse van Rensburg		72'
Coach:
Yannick Bru


FB	15	George Furbank		4'
RW	14	Tommy Freeman	35' to 45'
OC	13	Fraser Dingwall (c)
IC	12	Rory Hutchinson
LW	11	James Ramm		2'
FH	10	Fin Smith
SH	9	Alex Mitchell
N8	8	Henry Pollock
OF	7	Josh Kemeny
BF	6	Alex Coles
RL	5	Tom Lockett		60'
LL	4	Temo Mayanavanua		29'
TP	3	Trevor Davison		59'
HK	2	Curtis Langdon		60'
LP	1	Emmanuel Iyogun		65'
Substitutions:
HK	16	Craig Wright		60'
PR	17	Tarek Haffar		65'
PR	18	Elliot Millar Mills		59'
LK	19	Ed Prowse	43' to 53'	29'
FL	20	Angus Scott-Young		60'
SH	21	Tom James		78'
CE	22	Tom Litchfield		4'
WG	23	Ollie Sleightholme		2'
Coach:
Phil Dowson