'Real warmth' for Club World Cup, says European rugby boss

Rugby could hold a Club World Cup starting from 2028, Dominic McKay, chairman of the EPCR, the organising body for the European cups, suggested on Wednesday.

“There is a real warmth to develop a Club World Cup. A number of clubs from France and the UK were pushing us quite hard,” he said after a conference in Toulouse this week for Champions Cup and Challenge Cup stakeholders.

"We know it's a complicated project," he said, citing the travel, the format and the differing schedules.

“We want to do something which is meaningful and has a pattern of regularity.

"We are looking at doing something, if we can, potentially in 2028 and potentially in 2032."

The EPCR chairman said the competition could be divided into two parts.

The first would be based on the current Champions Cup group stage, with teams from the Top 14, the English Championship and the United Rugby Championship, which, in addition to teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy, has included four South Africa sides since 2021.

In a second phase, the qualifiers would then face the best teams from the rest of the Southern Hemisphere, with whom, McKay said, the EPCR has had "constructive exchanges".