Bernard Laporte has proposed a new Club World Cup competition which could spell the end of the European Champions Cup.
Laporte, current president of the French Rugby Federation, is in the running to next month be elected vice-chairman of World Rugby.
The new competition, the proposal for which Laporte has developed with World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont, would consist of 20 clubs.
Six of those would come from Super Rugby, four each from the English Premiership, France's Top 14 and the Pro14. The final two teams would be the champions of the USA and Japan. The competition would be played out over six weeks with pool stages before knockout rounds. It would take place in every year apart from a World Cup year.
"All are excited by such a project," Laporte told Midi Olympique.
"The goal of my approach is to find the income that will allow [unions] to finance both the professional and amateur world. This crisis must push us to be innovative. Let's make this new competition. I am sure that the public and television will follow.
"The European competition is magnificent, with Toulon [as head coach] I was able to lift the trophy three times and I know what it can represent.
"But let's be frank, it does not generate enough income. If we want to develop this Club World Cup, we have to find dates. Without the Champions Cup, nine weekends are available."
Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
