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Northampton Saints are attempting to become the first team to go unbeaten through a tournament with nine out of nine wins. Since the introduction of the home and away format in 1997 / 1998 none of the other clubs - Leinster (twice),
London Wasps, Bath Rugby, Biarritz Olympique, Scarlets and Cardiff Blues - who had won all their Pool matches went on to make it nine from nine and lift the trophy.
This 16th final will be tournament Match No 1,135.
There are 264 players from the 15 match day 22/23-man squads who own Heineken Cup final winners' medals - six have three medals and Cedric Heymans is out on his own with four (with Brive in 1997 and Toulouse in 2003, 2005 and 2010). The triple winners are Toulouse players Clement Poitrenaud, Vincent Clerc, Yannick Jauzion, Jean-Baptiste Poux, William Servat and Jean Bouilhou.
Only three of the 60 double winners have collected medals with different clubs. As well as Heymans, Philippe Carbonneau did it with Toulouse (1996) and Brive (1997) and Federico Mendez with Bath Rugby (1998) and Northampton Saints (2000).
Players from 17 different nationalities are on the winners' roll of honour, headed by 72 Englishmen, 71 Frenchmen and 67 Irishmen. There are also players from Scotland (10), Wales and New Zealand (eight each), South Africa (six), Australia, Argentina and Samoa (five), and one from each of Italy, USA, Canada, Poland, Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands.
The most tries scored in a final are the four by Brive when they beat Leicester Tigers 28-9 in Cardiff in 1997. The 19 points winning margin is the biggest in the 15 finals.
The most points scored by an individual in a final is the 30 kicked by Stade Français Paris' Diego Dominguez (nine penalty goals and a drop goal) in the 2001 defeat by Leicester.
The most points scored in a Heineken Cup final are the 64 rattled up at Parc des Princes in 2001. The 34 scored that day by Leicester Tigers is the most scored by a team in a final and the 30 scored by Stade Francais Paris is the most scored by a losing team.
Two of the 15 finals have failed to produce a try - when Ulster Rugby beat Colomiers 21-6 in 1999 and when Toulouse needed extra time in the 2005 final to beat Stade Francais Paris 18-12.
Raphael Ibanez, the former London Wasps hooker and Heineken Cup 2011 ambassador, is the only front five forward so far to score a try in a Heineken Cup final, crossing the Leicester Tigers' line in 2007. Only six forwards have scored Heineken Cup final tries - the others being flankers David Wallace (Munster) in 2000, Neil Back (Leicester Tigers) in 2001 and Ben Woods (Leicester Tigers) in 2009 and No 8s Denis Leamy (Munster) in 2008 and Leinster's Jamie Heaslip 24 months ago.
In 2009 Leinster became the 14th team to contest a Heineken Cup final. The other Heineken Cup finalists have been Toulouse (6), Leicester Tigers (5), Munster (4), London Wasps, Stade Francais Paris, Brive, Biarritz Olympique (2), Cardiff RFC, Bath Rugby, Ulster Rugby, Colomiers, Northampton Saints, Perpignan (1 each).
The 15 finals have produced 26 tries - an average of 1.73 per match - with two players scoring braces. Sebastien Carrat got two for Brive in the 1997 final and Leon Lloyd crossed twice for Leicester Tigers in Paris in 2001.
Chris White (England) is the only referee to take charge of three finals, in 2003, 2005 and 2006.
Two of the finals have required extra time to determine the winner and Toulouse won on both occasions, against Cardiff in 1996 and Stade Français Paris in 2005.
Austin Healey is the only player to have won two Heineken Cup final man-of-the-match awards, doing it in the Tigers' back-to-back triumphs in 2001 and 2002.
The all-Ireland semi-final between Munster and Leinster at Croke Park in 2009 was watched by a world record crowd for a club rugby match of 82,208.
Leinster made it an Irish clean sweep in that all three leading provinces have now lifted the trophy. They were the ninth team to lift the trophy following Toulouse (4), Leicester Tigers, Munster and London Wasps (2 each), Brive, Bath Rugby, Ulster Rugby and Northampton Saints.
