The knock-out stages, originally planned to take place between March and May 2020, were delayed until later in the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

The final took place on 16 October at the Stade Maurice David in Aix-en-Provence.

The winner of each pool faced each other in a two-legged play-off for a place in the Challenge Cup.

A further place was awarded to the winner of a two-legged playoff between the two sides competing in the 2018–19 Challenge Cup.

Note: Placing shown in brackets, denotes standing at the end of the regular season for their respective leagues, with their end of season positioning shown through CH for Champions, RU for Runner-up, SF for losing Semi-finalist and QF for losing Quarter-finalist.

Given the nature of the Continental Shield, a competition including developing rugby nations and Italian clubs not competing in the Pro14, the qualifying teams from this competition are automatically included in Tier 4.