In its various guises as the Heineken Cup, European Rugby Cup, Champions Cup and now the Heineken Champions Cup, it has become synonymous with quality on and off the pitch, and going into this 25th season, Europe’s elite clubs are ready to deliver another series of compelling matches to hundreds of thousands of fans across the continent and to TV audiences in over 150 countries worldwide.

Powerhouses of the club game – such as Saracens and Leicester Tigers in England, Toulouse and RC Toulon in France, and three Irish provinces - are on the roll of honour, while legendary players and coaches – like Martin Johnson, Gethin Jenkins, Thierry Dusautoir, Brian O’Driscoll, Bryan Habana, Jonny Wilkinson, Matt Giteau, Sergio Parisse, Dan Carter, Guy Noves, Warren Gatland and Joe Schmidt – have made the tournament an enduring who’s who of rugby.

Sponsored in that turbulent first season by title partners Heineken as administrators wrestled with the unfamiliar challenges of professionalism, Toulouse emerged as the inaugural winners in 1996, when they edged out Cardiff after extra-time at Cardiff Arms Park.

While Toulouse would go on to pretty much dominate the European landscape over the following 15 years, it was arguably another French club who lit the tournament fuse in 1997.

Brive were unheralded in Britain and Ireland as they prepared to face a strong Leicester side in the final, but the havoc they managed to wreak in Cardiff stunned even the most knowledgeable observers.

However, Leicester absorbed their French lesson and became the first club to win back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002, with the rollercoaster 34-30 final victory over Stade Francais Paris at the Parc des Princes in 2001 regarded by then-organisers ERC and many observers as one of the very best showpiece matches.

Munster had famously pulled off one of the shock results of the early years, when they outlasted Toulouse in a dramatic semi-final in the heat of Bordeaux in 2000. They would eventually falter in the final against Northampton at Twickenham, but the target of European glory was now large in their crosshairs and deliverance would be at hand in 2006 and 2008.

As the tournament grew in stature, bonus points were introduced at the start of the 2003/04 season for the 24 clubs competing in six pools and a talented Wasps side captained by Lawrence Dallaglio went on to lift the trophy.

Wasps, along with Toulouse and Munster, invariably found themselves at the business end between 2005 and 2008, and then it was Leinster’s turn to finally make the breakthrough by claiming the silverware at BT Murrayfield in 2009.

That season was illuminated by a magnificent occasion when 82,208 fans – a world record attendance for a club match at the time – packed into Dublin’s Croke Park for a semi-final between Leinster and Munster, as well as by the exploits of Leinster’s Rocky Elsom, who produced an exceptional series of individual performances.

Stade Francais Paris and Harlequins set a tournament attendance record of 76,569 for a pool match when they met in the 2008/09 season at the Stade de France, and that was the venue in 2010, when Toulouse won their fourth title.

To celebrate the first 15 years of the Heineken Cup, Munster’s Ronan O’Gara – still the top scorer in the history of the European club game with 1,365 points – was presented with a special accolade as the best player during the period and that spawned the European Player of the Year award, the winner of which now also receives the Anthony Foley Memorial Trophy.

Leinster emulated Leicester Tigers’ feat with back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, before a powerful RC Toulon squad under the guidance of Bernard Laporte swept all before them with three wins on the bounce between 2013 and 2015.

From 2014/15, the newly-styled Champions Cup became more streamlined, with 20 clubs and qualification based on performances in the Premiership, TOP 14 and what would become the PRO14.

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Saracens triumphed in Lyon in 2016, then retained the trophy the following season, before flying the flag for the Premiership again with victory in Newcastle last season.

In between, Heineken came back on board as title sponsor and the final moved outside the traditional six nations for the first time, with Leinster claiming a fourth title in Bilbao, where Leo Cullen became the first man to win as a player and coach.

With its 20 million-plus spectators, its 11 winners, its broadcast footprint, its legendary clubs and its global stars, the tournament has come a long way since that humble kick-off in 1995.

As the 25th season of Europe’s premier club competition prepares for the 2019/20 kick-off, it promises more thrilling games, more memorable moments and even more outstanding match-day experiences for the fans.

It began in modest circumstances, with Toulouse playing the Romanians of Farul Constanta on the shores of the Black Sea in October 1995, but almost a quarter of a century and more than 20 million spectators later, Europe’s premier club tournament has left an indelible mark on the world game.