Who has won the most Top 14 Titles - A look at who has been the most successful

In 1892, the French Rugby Championship began with only two teams from Paris, Stade Francais and Racing 92, competing for the Bouclier de Brennus trophy, with the latter team coming out on top by four points to three. 

The format of the competition changed In the 1898/99 season, with the champion of Paris playing for a national title against the winner of the provincial tournament. Stade Bordelais beat Stade Toulouse and FC Lyon on the route to the final, defeating Stade Francais 5-3 for the championship.  

In 1904, the competition changed to 16 regional leagues. The champions of each league will progress to the round of 16 and play knockout rugby until one team is left. 

During this time, the first dominant rugby team to emerge was ,Biarritz Olympique who contested 12 of 13 finals between 1899 and 1911, winning seven trophies.

World War I halted proceedings, with the tournament only resuming in 1920 when Stadoceste Tarbais defeated the Racing Club 92 in the final. 

Stade Toulouse secured their first championship in 1912 without losing a single match during the season but had to wait ten years before their next title, kickstarting a dominant period for the club, as they won again in 1922, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927. 

The 1930 match between Agen and US Quillan was the first final decided in extra time, with Agen winning 4-0 to secure their first championship.

After World War 2, FC Lourdes became the next club to reign supreme in France, winning the title seven times from 1945 to 1960. 

A decade passed before Beziers emerged as the best team in the land, racking up an impressive ten championships between 1971 and 1984, which included five seasons without a single defeat. 

Sixteen sides competed for the title from the 2001/02 season before the competition was renamed the Top 14 from the 2005/06 season onwards. 

Stade Toulouse has been the most successful team since the change to the Top 14, winning titles in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2024. 

In its current format, fourteen teams will play each other home and away during the regular season, with the top six teams in the standings at the end of the round-robin fixtures entering the knockout stages. 

The teams finishing between third and sixth in the log play qualifiers, with the winners facing the first and second-placed sides in the semi-finals to decide who will contest in the final of the Top 14. 

A victory earns a team four points, a draw two points and a bonus point is awarded for scoring three more tries than the opponent or for losing by five points or less.

The 14th-placed team is automatically relegated to the Pro D2 at the end of each season, whilst the 13th-placed side will face the runner-up of the Pro D2 in a playoff to decide who will play in the Top 14 the following season. 

Teams that finish within the top eight positions in the Top 14 league qualify to play in the Investec European Champions Cup the following season. Concurrently, the remaining Top 14 sides will play in the European Challenge Cup.

Here is the list of the most successful teams to have won the Top 14 title.