Top 14
There exists a promotion and relegation system between the Top 14 and Pro D2. The two lowest placed clubs on the ladder after the regular season are relegated to Pro D2, while two clubs come up from Pro D2, specifically the champion and the winner of a knock-out playoff between the next four teams on the ladder. Starting in 2009–10, the knock-out stages for the Top 14 involve six teams and consist of three rounds. The top two teams on the ladder receive a bye into the semi-finals, while the next four teams on the ladder play in the first round, with the third-and fourth-place teams each hosting a match. The winners of those matches face the top two teams in the semi-finals, which are held at neutral sites, and the semi-final winners advance to the final at Stade de France.
The qualification criteria for European competition also changed for 2009–10. Normally, the top six teams on the ladder will qualify for the following season's Heineken Cup. The winners of the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup will also qualify for the next Heineken Cup. The exact number and identity of qualifying teams will depend on a number of factors, but will always be either six or seven.
- Seven teams will qualify if:
- A French team wins either or both of the European competitions. If French teams win both, only five teams will earn Heineken Cup berths by league position, as France is capped at seven Heineken Cup participants.
- Teams from England's Aviva Premiership, also capped at seven Heineken Cup places, win both European competitions, and the team that lies highest in the European Rugby Cllub Rankings among those that have not already qualified for the Heineken Cup is French.
All Top 14 teams that do not qualify for the Heineken Cup, including the teams newly promoted from Pro D2, will play in the Challenge Cup.
Read more about this topic: French Rugby Union System
Famous quotes containing the word top:
“We fight our way through the massed and leveled collective safe taste of the Top 40, just looking for a little something we can call our own. But when we find it and jam the radio to hear it again it isn’t just ours—it is a link to thousands of others who are sharing it with us. As a matter of a single song this might mean very little; as culture, as a way of life, you can’t beat it.”
—Greil Marcus (b. 1945)