The 1997–98 Heineken Cup was the third edition of the Heineken Cup European rugby union club competition. Competing professional club teams from France, Ireland, Italy, Wales, England and Scotland, were divided into five pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. The pool winners automatically qualified for the knock-out stages. The five runners-up and the best third placed team entered the play-offs, where they competed for the remaining three quarter final positions.
Teams
{| class="wikitable" width=100%
|-
! England
! Ireland
! Italy
! France
! Scotland
! Wales
|- valign=top
|
- Leicester Tigers
- London Wasps
- Bath
- Harlequins
|
- Leinster
- Munster
- Ulster
|
- Treviso
- Rugby Milano
|
- Toulouse
- Brive
- Pau
- Bourgoin
|
- Glasgow
- Borders
- Caledonia
|
- Swansea
- Pontypridd
- Llanelli
- Cardiff
|}
Pool stage
In the pool matches teams received
- 2 points for a win
- 1 points for a draw
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Key to colours
|-
| style="background: #ccffcc;" |
| Winner of each pool advances to quarter-final stage
|-
| style="background: #CCCCFF;" |
| Advance to quarter-final playoffs
|}
Pool 1
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="30"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor="#ccffcc"
|align="left"| Toulouse
|6||5||0||1||25||12||13||200||121||79||10
|- bgcolor="#ccccff"
|align="left"| Leicester
|6||4||0||2||16||14||2||163||117||46||8
|-
|align="left"| Leinster
|6||2||0||4||15||19||−4||137||167||−30||4
|-
|align="left"| Milan
|6||1||0||5||15||26||−11||111||206||−95||2
|}
Pool 2
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="30"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor="#ccffcc"
|align="left"| Wasps
|6||6||0||0||31||12||19||243||104||139||12
|- bgcolor="#ccccff"
|align="left"| Glasgow
|6||3||0||3||14||15||−1||132||167||−35||6
|-
|align="left"| Swansea
|6||2||0||4||15||16||−1||157||161||−4||4
|-
|align="left"| Ulster
|6||1||0||5||6||23||−17||95||195||−100||2
|}
Pool 3
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="30"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor="#ccffcc"
|align="left"| Bath
|6||5||0||1||12||12||0||141||119||22||10
|- bgcolor="#ccccff"
|align="left"| Brive
|6||4||1||1||24||13||11||210||146||64||9
|- bgcolor="#ccccff"
|align="left"| Pontypridd
|6||2||1||3||17||13||4||154||147||7||5
|-
|align="left"| Scottish Borders
|6||0||0||6||14||29||−15||129||222||−93||0
|}
Pool 4
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="30"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor="#ccffcc"
|align="left"| Harlequins
|6||4||0||2||21||12||9||198||141||57||8
|- bgcolor="#ccccff"
|align="left"| Cardiff
|6||4||0||2||17||15||2||184||146||38||8
|-
|align="left"| Bourgoin
|6||2||0||4||14||21||−7||141||180||−39||4
|-
|align="left"| Munster
|6||2||0||4||7||11||−4||93||149||−56||4
|}
Pool 5
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="30"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor="#ccffcc"
|align="left"| Pau
|6||4||0||2||27||8||19||203||89||114||8
|- bgcolor="#ccccff"
|align="left"| Llanelli
|6||4||0||2||15||18||−3||144||142||2||8
|-
|align="left"| Benetton Treviso
|6||2||0||4||18||19||−1||146||162||−16||4
|-
|align="left"| Caledonia
|6||2||0||4||8||23||−15||89||189||−100||4
|}
Seeding
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!Seed
!Pool Winners
!Pts
!TF
!+/−
|-
|1
|align=left| London Wasps
|12||31||+139
|-
|2
|align=left| Toulouse
|10||25||+79
|-
|3
|align=left| Bath
|10||12||+22
|-
|4
|align=left| Pau
|8||27||+114
|-
|5
|align=left| Harlequins
|8||21||+57
|-
!Seed
!Pool Runners-up (and best third place)
!Pts
!TF
!+/−
|-
|6
|align=left| Brive
|9||24||+64
|-
|7
|align=left| Cardiff
|8||17||+38
|-
|8
|align=left| Leicester Tigers
|8||16||+46
|-
|9
|align=left| Llanelli
|8||15||+2
|-
|10
|align=left| Glasgow
|6||14||−35
|-
|11
|align=left| Pontypridd
|5||17||+7
|-
|}
Knockout stage
Quarter-final play-offs
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Brive advance to final on try count (two tries to one)