Glasgow and their fellow top seeds from the five other competing countries will each be drawn into one of the six sections. That means that Glasgow will not have to face other top seeds such as Biarritz, London Wasps, Ospreys, or Munster. Nor can Glasgow face the other Scottish qualifiers, Edinburgh.
But Glasgow's pool opponents could include any three of a host of past cup-winners, including the current holders, Toulouse, whom Glasgow met in the past season's European campaign. Toulouse went on to become the first club to win the trophy three times.
Leicester Tigers, twice Heineken Cup winners, are in the draw. So are two other past winners, Bath and Ulster, as well as high-profile clubs as Sale Sharks, Saracens, Leeds Tykes, Stade Français, Bourgoin, Perpignan, Clermont Auvergne (formerly Montferrand), Llanelli Scarlets, and Leinster.
Biarritz took the French top-seeding spot only yesterday, when they beat Stade Français by 37-34 after extra time in the national club championship final in Paris. It was the second time in a month that Stade Français had lost out to French rivals in a major final. In the Heineken final at Murrayfield three weeks ago they went down against Toulouse by 12-18.
The 24 Heineken contestants are (seeding positions in brackets):
France – (1) Biarritz Olympique (2) Stade Français Paris (3) Toulouse (4) Bourgoin (5) Perpignan (6) Castres Olympique (7) Clermont Auvergne
England – (1) London Wasps (2) Leicester Tigers (3) Sale Sharks (4) Bath Rugby (5) Saracens (6) Leeds Tykes
Wales – (1) Ospreys (2) Newport Gwent Dragons (3) Llanelli Scarlets (4) Cardiff Blues
Ireland – (1) Munster (2) Leinster (3) Ulster
Scotland – (1) Glasgow Warriors (2) Edinburgh Rugby
Italy – (1) Rugby Calvisano (2) Benetton Treviso