England's 2009-10 Heineken Cup teams pose with the all-important silverware at this season's UK launch © Getty Images

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Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup

Teams: England | France | Ireland | Scotland | Wales

The stage has been set for this season's Heineken Cup with Europe's premier club competition poised to add another dramatic chapter to its famous history.

The continent's finest teams will go into battle next month in the opening round of action that will culminate at the Stade de France in Paris on May 22, 2010 with the crowning of the new Heineken Cup champions.

England's seven representatives, Scotland's two professional teams and Wales' four regional sides were present at the second of three official launches staged at London Irish's Madejski Stadium home in Reading where the 15th Heineken Cup season was welcomed with the kind of fanfare we have come to expect from ERC chiefs.

"This promises to be a very exciting year," said ERC chief executive Derek McGrath. "It begins and ends in France with the final next year set to be another fantastic occasion. We already know that interest is building given that 40,000 tickets have been sold before a ball has been kicked. That gives everyone great confidence for the future."

The faith in the Heineken Cup product is clearly strong among fans and that confidence is also evident at a commercial level with renewed agreements in place with title sponsor Heineken and partners Fedex and EDF Energy. ERC chiefs can also boast a high-profile signing of their own in the form of adidas who will provide match balls from this season. In addition, insurance company Amlin have joined the ERC portfolio not only as a Heineken Cup partner but also as title sponsor of the European Challenge Cup - filling a five-year long void for the second-tier competition.

This season's tournament will see a number of changes as organisers look to finesse what is without a doubt the best showcase for club rugby in the world.

In one of the more significant changes the side that lifts the impressive Heineken Cup silverware next year will automatically qualify for the 2010-11 tournament and they will also earn their country an extra place at European rugby's top table. As previously, the Challenge Cup will also provide a path into the Heineken Cup but England and France, who are already guaranteed six places, will be restricted to a maximum of seven sides to ensure a broad representation across the continent.

This season's format also offers a new European lifeline to those sides that do not make the knock-out stages with the third, fourth and fifth ranked runners-up progressing to the last eight of the Challenge Cup.

The Heineken Cup is also embracing the expanded match-day squads that were introduced at the start of the Premiership season aimed at ridding the game of uncontested scrums. As with English rugby's top division, three specialist front row players must form part of the eight-man bench and should all front row replacements have been used, and there is a further front row injury, and no fit player available, the injured player may not be replaced with his team subsequently reduced to 14 players.

Europe's leading clubs gathered in Paris earlier this summer to address many issues including the consistency of refereeing and the disciplinary process. As a result ERC have appointed former international referee Donal Courtney as their Match Official Performance Manager while disciplinary hearings will now be heard by a single independent official instead of a three-man committee.

Last season's Heineken Cup brought with it more drama than ever before with the first-ever penalty shoot-out. The agonising yet enthralling finale to Leicester's semi-final victory over Cardiff Blues was criticised by many and it appears that negative feedback has forced ERC into a re-think.

No longer will we have to witness the pain of a forward missing a crucial place kick as we did when the otherwise mighty Martyn Williams pulled his effort wide of the mark at the Millennium Stadium to open the door for the Tigers' ill-fitting victory.

From this season, if a place-kicking competition is required to decide the winner of a knock-out match each team will nominate three kickers from the players on the pitch at the end of extra time. They will each take three kicks along the 22 metre line and if still undecided, sudden death using these kickers will only be used to determine the winner. In announcing the change to these controversial regulations, McGrath acknowledged their unsatisfactory nature declaring, "that we need to justify and respect the players involved."

This season's finale will be the third hosted across The Channel and history suggests there is plenty of reason for the UK's leading clubs to be hopeful of away day glory. Bath memorably edged out Brive at the Stade Lescure in Bordeaux in 1998 while Leicester upset Stade Francais at the Parc des Princes in Paris in 2001.

Will England be celebrating again this season? Or will Wales or even Scotland break the Irish stranglehold of recent years? Expect more twists and turns and the odd bit of controversy and to be enthralled from start to finish.

Heineken Cup Numbers Game:
+ 10,000,000 - The 10 millionth fan will pass through the turnstiles during the pool stages
+ 5,000 - The Heineken Cup is on course to break the 5,000 tries barrier this season
+ 1,000 - The match between Ospreys and Clermont Auvergne in Round 2 will be the 1,000th in the competition's history
+ 89 - Cardiff Blues' new Cardiff City Stadium home, the King Baudoin Stadium in Brussels (the venue for Stade Francais v Ulster) and Stadiu II Giglio in Reggio Emilia (the venue for Viadana v Ospreys) will make it 89 venues used in Heineken Cup history
+ 10 - Belgium will become the 10th country to stage a Heineken Cup game when it plays host to the Stade Francais v Ulster clash in December.