2025–26 Top 14 season

2025–26 Top 14
Countries France
DateSeptember 2025 – 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

Locations of clubs competing in the 2025–26 Top 14.

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.

2025–26 Top 14 clubs
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 16,700 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
  1. ^ In recent years, Bordeaux Bègles has taken occasional home matches to Matmut Atlantique.
  2. ^ In recent years, Toulon has taken occasional home matches to Stade Vélodrome in Marseille and Allianz Riviera in Nice.
  3. ^ Toulouse often takes high-demand home matches to the city's largest sporting venue, Stadium de Toulouse.

Table

2024–25 Top 14 Table
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts Qualification
1 Bayonne 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for playoff semi-finals and European Rugby Champions Cup
2 Bordeaux Bègles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Castres 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for playoff semi-final qualifiers and European Rugby Champions Cup
4 Clermont 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 La Rochelle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Lyon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Montauban 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for European Rugby Champions Cup
8 Montpellier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 Pau 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for European Rugby Challenge Cup
10 Perpignan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 Racing 92 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Stade Français 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 Toulon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for relegation play-off
14 Toulouse 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Relegation to Pro D2
Updated to match(es) played on 16 June 2025. Source: Top 14


See also

  • 2025–26 Pro D2 season

References

  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Mortimer, Gavin (18 August 2016). "French rugby enjoys a popularity boom as it looks to the future". Rugby World. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
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