Bath Rugby

Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in the Gallagher PREM, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground in the city centre. Bath Rugby is the joint-most successful club in England, having won 21 major trophies. It was particularly successful between 1984 and 1998, when it won 10 Domestic Cups, 6 of its 7 League titles, and became the first English side to win the European Cup in 1998. In 2008 and 2025, Bath also won the European Challenge Cup, the continent's second-tier competition. Bath is one of only three clubs never to have been relegated from the top division of English rugby. They are the reigning champions of England, finishing 1st in the 2024–25 Premiership Rugby season and winning the play off final. This entitles them to play in the 2025-26 European Rugby Champions Cup. The current Head of Rugby is Johann van Graan, who started in July 2022. Matches with local rivals Bristol Bears and Gloucester are referred to as West Country derbies. Bath also have a longstanding rivalry with Leicester Tigers.