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Champions Cup pool draw on Wednesday

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Leicester Tigers will discover their opponents for next season's European Rugby Champions Cup when the draw takes place on Wednesday (June 29).

The pool draw for the Champions Cup will start at around 1.20pm (UK time) following the draw for the Challenge Cup.
 
The draw will be live on Sky Sports News, beIn Sports and Infosport+ and will be streamed live on epcrugby.com
 
The event comperes in Neuchâtel, Switzerland will be Alex Payne (Sky Sports) and Matthieu Lartot (France Télévisions) with Dimitri Yachvili (beIN Sports) and Ieuan Evans (Sky Sports) conducting the draws.
 
The key principles and key steps integral to the Pool Draw are explained below.
 
Key principles
The 20 clubs which have qualified on merit from the Aviva Premiership, Top 14 and PRO12 leagues will compete in the 2016/17 Champions Cup in five pools of four.

The clubs are divided into four tiers based on their status as championship winners and/or on their qualification positions in their league tables. This will be done by a draw in advance of the main pool draw.

Each pool will have at least one club from each of the three leagues.

Each of the five pools will have one club from each of the four tiers.

There will be no more than two clubs from the same league in a pool.

No pool will contain two PRO12 clubs from the same country.

Clubs from the same league will be kept apart until the allocation of the Tier 4 clubs.
 
European Rugby Champions Cup qualification
For the purposes of creating the tiers, the Aviva Premiership, TOP 14 and PRO12 clubs are ranked based on their league performances and on their performances in the knockout phases. For clubs which did not qualify for the knockout phases of their leagues, or which were eliminated at the same stage of the knockout phase, rankings are decided by league table finishing positions.
 
Rank      Aviva Premiership           Top 14                                             PRO12
1              Saracens                      RC Toulon or Racing 92                   Connacht Rugby
2              Exeter Chiefs                RC Toulon or Racing 92                   Leinster Rugby
3              Wasps                          ASM Clermont Auvergne                 Glasgow Warriors
4              Leicester Tigers             Montpellier                                     Ulster Rugby
5              Northampton Saints       Toulouse                                         Scarlets
6              Sale Sharks                  Castres Olympique                          Munster Rugby
7                                                  Bordeaux-Begles                             Zebre Rugby
 
 
Tier 1
Tier 1 will include the three champions from the Aviva Premiership, the TOP 14 and the PRO12.
Tier 1 will also include two of the three clubs which are ranked second from the Aviva Premiership, the TOP 14 and the PRO12. The two clubs will be decided by a draw in advance of the draw for the pools.
 
Tier 2
Tier 2 will include the three clubs which are ranked third from the Aviva Premiership, the TOP 14 and the PRO12.
Tier 2 will also include the second-ranked club which was not drawn into Tier 1, and the club which is ranked fourth from the same league as the club which was not drawn into Tier 1.
 
Tier 3
Tier 3 will include the two clubs ranked fourth which are not in Tier 2. Tier 3 will also include the three clubs which are ranked fifth from each league.
 
Tier 4
Tier 4 will include the three clubs which are ranked sixth in the leagues. Tier 4 will also include the 7th ranked club in the TOP 14 and the Italian qualifier from the PRO12 – Zebre Rugby.