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Principality Stadium, Cardiff. Andy Watts/INPHO
Future planning

Cardiff and Bilbao to host European rugby finals in 2025 and 2026

Next year’s Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals will take place at the Principality Stadium.

CARDIFF WILL STAGE European club rugby union’s Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals in 2025, organisers announced Wednesday.

Both matches will take place at the 74,000 capacity Principality Stadium.

The 58,000 San Mames Stadium, the home of Spanish football club Athletic Bilbao, will stage the two finals in 2026, having previously hosted the showpiece matches in 2018.

Cardiff Arms Park was the venue for the final of the inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup in 1996, when French giants Toulouse beat Cardiff 21-18.

The Principality or Millennium Stadium has since been the venue for several major European finals, most recently in 2013 when French club Toulon defeated English Premiership side Saracens to win what is now the Champions Cup.

“In returning to Cardiff, 30 years on from the iconic first final means a great to deal to us and our friends here in the city, and we will celebrate the milestone appropriately,” European Professional Club Rugby chairman Dominic McKay said.

“We know this rugby heartland will not only be proud to host this historic weekend, but will welcome rugby fans from across the world to join us.”

The 2024 finals will take place on 24 and 25 May at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the north London home of the Premier League football club.

– © AFP 2024

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