2025–26 Top 14 season
| 2025–26 Top 14 | |
|---|---|
| Countries | France |
| Date | 6 September 2025 – 27 June 2026 |
The 2025–26 Top 14 competition will be the 127th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).
Format
The top six teams at the end of the regular season (after all the teams played one another twice, once at home, once away) enter a knockout stage to decide the Champions of France. This consists of three rounds: the teams finishing third to sixth in the table play quarter-finals (hosted by the third and fourth placed teams). The winners then face the top two teams in the semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The LNR uses a slightly different bonus points system from that used in most other rugby competitions. It trialled a new system in 2007–08 explicitly designed to prevent a losing team from earning more than one bonus point in a match,[1] a system that also made it impossible for either team to earn a bonus point in a drawn match. LNR chose to continue with this system for subsequent seasons.[2]
France's bonus point system operates as follows:[2]
- 4 points for a win.
- 2 points for a draw.
- 1 bonus point for winning while scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. This replaces the standard bonus point for scoring 4 tries regardless of the match result.
- 1 bonus point for losing by 5 points (or fewer). The margin had been 7 points until being changed prior to the 2014–15 season.
From the 2017–18 season onwards, only the 14th placed team is automatically relegated to the Pro D2. The 13th placed team play the runner-up of the Pro D2 play-off, with the winner taking up the final place in the Top 14 for the following season.[3]
Teams
Fourteen clubs will compete in the 2025–26 Top 14 season, 12 of them returning. Vannes were relegated to Pro D2 after finishing at the bottom of the table the previous season. Montauban is the sole promoted club, finishing sixth in the Pro D2 the previous season and winning the Pro D2 playoffs. Perpignan, who finished 13th in the previous Top 14 season, defeated Grenoble in the relegation playoffs to retain their place.
| Club | City | Stadium | Capacity | Prev |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayonne | Bayonne | Stade Jean Dauger | 16,934 | 4th |
| Bordeaux Bègles | Bordeaux | Stade Chaban-Delmas[a] | 33,500 | 2nd |
| Castres | Castres | Stade Pierre-Fabre | 12,500 | 6th |
| Clermont | Clermont-Ferrand | Stade Marcel-Michelin | 19,022 | 5th |
| La Rochelle | La Rochelle | Stade Marcel-Deflandre | 17,900 | 7th |
| Lyon | Lyon | Matmut Stadium de Gerland | 25,000 | 11th |
| Montauban | Montauban | Stade Sapiac | 9,210 | 6th (D2) |
| Montpellier | Montpellier | Altrad Stadium | 15,697 | 9th |
| Pau | Pau | Stade du Hameau | 14,588 | 8th |
| Perpignan | Perpignan | Stade Aimé Giral | 14,593 | 13th |
| Racing | Nanterre | Paris La Défense Arena | 30,681 | 10th |
| Stade Français | Paris | Stade Jean-Bouin | 20,000 | 12th |
| Toulon | Toulon | Stade Mayol[b] | 18,200 | 3rd |
| Toulouse | Toulouse | Stade Ernest-Wallon[c] | 18,754 | 1st |
- ^ In recent years, Bordeaux Bègles has taken occasional home matches to Matmut Atlantique.
- ^ In recent years, Toulon has taken occasional home matches to Stade Vélodrome in Marseille and Allianz Riviera in Nice.
- ^ Toulouse often takes high-demand home matches to the city's largest sporting venue, Stadium de Toulouse.
Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toulouse | 17 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 662 | 352 | +310 | 90 | 40 | 10 | 2 | 62 | Qualification for playoff semi-finals and European Rugby Champions Cup |
| 2 | Pau | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 495 | 420 | +75 | 61 | 53 | 5 | 2 | 51 | |
| 3 | Bordeaux Bègles | 17 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 574 | 444 | +130 | 81 | 56 | 7 | 3 | 50 | Qualification for playoff semi-final qualifiers and European Rugby Champions Cup |
| 4 | Montpellier | 17 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 520 | 373 | +147 | 64 | 42 | 6 | 4 | 48 | |
| 5 | Clermont | 17 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 558 | 452 | +106 | 72 | 56 | 5 | 1 | 46 | |
| 6 | Racing 92 | 17 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 497 | 517 | −20 | 58 | 66 | 2 | 1 | 45 | |
| 7 | Stade Français | 17 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 471 | 427 | +44 | 58 | 55 | 5 | 5 | 44 | Qualification for European Rugby Champions Cup |
| 8 | Toulon | 17 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 452 | 523 | −71 | 61 | 63 | 6 | 1 | 43 | |
| 9 | Castres | 17 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 405 | 470 | −65 | 47 | 59 | 1 | 4 | 41 | Qualification for European Rugby Challenge Cup |
| 10 | La Rochelle | 17 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 520 | 461 | +59 | 68 | 56 | 5 | 4 | 37 | |
| 11 | Lyon | 17 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 508 | 489 | +19 | 64 | 64 | 3 | 2 | 37 | |
| 12 | Bayonne | 17 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 452 | 557 | −105 | 51 | 71 | 2 | 2 | 36 | |
| 13 | Perpignan | 16 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 283 | 445 | −162 | 31 | 51 | 1 | 1 | 14 | Qualification for relegation play-off |
| 14 | Montauban | 17 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 325 | 792 | −467 | 39 | 113 | 0 | 1 | 7 | Relegation to Pro D2 |
See also
References
- ^ "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-rugby.com. 27 June 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- ^ a b "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"" (PDF). Règlements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel (in French). LNR. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
- ^ Mortimer, Gavin (18 August 2016). "French rugby enjoys a popularity boom as it looks to the future". Rugby World. Retrieved 10 May 2017.