Top 14 giants Racing 92 and Stade Francais have announced they are planning to merge to form one Paris super club.
The news will send shockwaves through the Top 14 as the winners of the 2015 and 2016 titles have opted to pool their resources, with the new club playing from the start of next season, pending the approval of the LNR.
"These two flagship clubs of Paris and the Hauts de Seine -- beyond the sporting rivalry they have enjoyed -- have many other similarities: a strong local and regional anchorage, a historic educational mission, ancestral ties with The Olympic movement or an inextinguishable will to progress in all areas," read a joint statement.
Plus forts ensemble ! Communiqué du @racing92 : https://t.co/vVLZ3lcwL1 pic.twitter.com/pz1bQfqdVE
— Racing 92 (@racing92) March 13, 2017
"It is on the basis of these principles that the two clubs lay the foundations for a merger project by pooling their resources to better cope with the challenges of performance and learning.
"This association, effective from next season, will give birth to a new club that will preserve the roots of Racing 92 and those of the Stade Français Paris while multiplying the means dedicated to youth and French rugby.
"Strengthened by our double culture, by the stanch wise of its two presidents and the support of an unprecedented catchment area in France, this new club's long-term mission is to grow into a real reference."
The two presidents -- Stade's Thomas Savare and Racing's Jacky Lorenzetti -- will face the press on Monday afternoon to further detail news of the merger with no confirmation over coaching staff or how the combined squad will work.