The semi-finals of the 2023-2024 season of the Top 14 will be held in Bordeaux on the weekend of June 21-23, and not in Lille as initially announced, due to “preparations for the Olympic Games”, the League announced on Friday. national rugby union. “Following the confirmation of the impossibility of holding the 2024 semi-finals in Lille due to the preparations for the Olympic Games, the LNR has reorganized the programming of the semi-finals of the Top 14 for the next seasons”, specifies in a press release. the body, which held its general meeting on Friday in Toulon. The metropolis of Lille must indeed host the Olympic basketball and handball tournaments of the JO-2024 (July 26 – August 11).
Consequently, the LNR Steering Committee has designated Bordeaux as the host city for the Top 14 semi-finals in 2024. The LNR had already announced that the next Top 14 final, which is traditionally played at the Stade de France, would be relocated at the Vélodrome de Marseille, on June 29, 2024, due to the proximity of the Olympic Games, the Dionysian enclosure to host the athletics events and rugby sevens. Lyon will host the semi-finals of the 2024-2025 season, Marseille those of the 2025-2026 edition and for the 2026-2027 season, the semi-finalists will return to Bordeaux, the LNR also announced.
In addition, in order to carry out further “harmonization of final phase formats” according to the “principles of ups and downs between championships”, the LNR’s management committee has also decided that an “accession match between the 15th in Pro D2 and the finalist in National” (3rd div.) would be organized for the first time at the end of the 2023-2024 season. “It will take place on the land of the National finalist and will be scheduled for the weekend of June 1, 2024”, specifies the press release. This type of barrage already exists between the penultimate of the Top 14 and the finalist of Pro D2. Last season, he opposed Perpignan to Grenoble (33-19 for Usap).
