2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage should not be confused with 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup pool stage.
See main article: article and 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup. The 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage was the first stage of the 29th season of pan-European professional club rugby union competition, and the tenth under the European Rugby Champions Cup format. Twenty-four clubs from three major domestic and regional leagues competed over four rounds of pool fixtures, with 16 teams progressing to the knockout stages.
The pool stage draw took place on 21 June 2023.[1] The complete fixture list was then announced on 13 July 2023.[2] The fixtures were played out across four weekends between 8 December 2023 and 21 January 2024.[3]
Teams play other teams in the same pool, except the other team from their own league, with two games at home and two away. The top four teams in each pool progress to the round of 16, whilst the teams ranked 5th progresses to the knockout stages of the 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup.[4]
Teams are awarded points based on match performances; four points for a win, two points for a draw, one attacking bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match and one defensive bonus point for losing a match by seven points or fewer.[5]
If two or more clubs in the same pool are equal on match points, their ranking will be determined as follows:[6]