European Cup record

Stade Français have twice reached the final, but on each occasion they were narrowly beaten. In 2001 they succumbed 34-30 to Leicester Tigers at Parc des Princes in Paris and then four years later they took Stade Toulousain to extra time before going down 18-12 at BT Murrayfield.

Last season

The TOP 14 club never got beyond the pool stage of the EPCR Challenge Cup after losing their opening game 44-20 at home to Benetton Rugby.

Director of rugby

Gonzalo Quesada is in his second spell in charge of Stade Français, having first been in the hot seat there between 2013 and 2017, when he guided the Parisian club to the TOP 14 title (2015) and the EPCR Challenge Cup (2017). The former Argentina fly-half had a season as sports director at Biarritz Olympique before returning home to take charge of Los Jaguares, whom he led to a first Super Rugby final in 2019. He then returned to Stade in June 2020.

Key players

The Stade Français squad is a multi-talented mixture of French, Argentinian, Australian, New Zealand, Tongan, Fijian, Samoan, Canadian and Georgian internationals, the best known of whom are probably France locks Yoann Maestri and Paul Gabrillagues, Argentina fly-half Nicolas Sanchez and back-row forward Marcus Kremer.

Pool fixtures

Stade Français begin their Pool B programme with a trip to Connacht Rugby on December 12 and then it’s a home game against Bristol Bears a week later. Round 3 is the return fixture against the English club at Ashton Gate on January 15 and Stade close their pool games with a match against Connacht at Stade Jean Bouin on January 23.

Stade Français Paris return to Europe’s elite club rugby competition for the first time since 2015/16, but they were regular quarter-finalists in the early years of the tournament – as we find out in the latest analysis of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup teams.