The Rugby Europe Women's Sevens, previously the FIRA–AER Women's Sevens until 2013, is a series of regional championships for women's international rugby sevens in Europe. Prior to 2012, the annual tournament is held over two days, typically on a weekend in June, before the highest category tournament was reorganized as the Sevens Grand Prix Series, modeled after the format of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournaments are sanctioned and sponsored by Rugby Europe.
History
Rugby sevens — also known as 7-a-side, or 7s — is a short form of the sport of rugby union that was first played in 1883. The first (men's) internationals took place in 1973. As women's rugby union developed in the 1960s and 1970s the format became very popular as it allowed games, and entire leagues, to be developed in countries even when player numbers were small, and it remains the main form the women's game is played in most parts of the world.
However, although the first women's international rugby union 15-a-side test match took place in 1982, it was not until 1997 before the first women's international 7s tournaments were played, when the 1997 Hong Kong Sevens included a women's tournament for the first time. Over the next decade the number of tournaments grew, with almost every region developing regular championship competitions. This reached its zenith with 2009's inaugural women's tournament for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, shortly followed by the announcement that women's rugby sevens will be included in the Olympics from 2016.
The first official regional 7s championship for international women's teams from European was the European Women's Sevens Championship held in 2003 in Lunel, France. Since then, the regional 7s championships have periodically served as pre-qualifying competitions for the Rugby 7s World Cup, or other sevens tournaments.
Tournaments The following are details of all regional women's international championships played in Europe, listed chronologically with the earliest first, with all result details, where known (included are the FIRA–AER Women's Sevens and other official regional championships, e.g. the Europe Emerging Nations tournaments).
Championship Series Rugby Europe Women's Sevens YearPlace Champions Runners-up ThirdFIRA-AER Women's Sevens 2003 Lunel 2004 Limoges 2005 Lunel 2006 Limoges 2007 Lunel 2008 Limoges 2009 Hanover 2010 Moscow 2011 Bucharest Grand Prix Series 2012 Multiple 2013 Multiple 2014 Multiple 2015 (I) Multiple 2015 (II) Lisbon 2016 Multiple 2017 Multiple 2018 Multiple 2019 (I) Multiple 2019 (II) Kazan2020 Series not played because of COVID-19 pandemic.Championship Series 2021 Multiple 2022 Multiple 2023Multiple2024Multiple2025Multiple2026Multiple
Team records for Championship Series
TeamChampionsRunners-upThird7 (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021)1 (2015)1 (2008)6 (2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012)3 (2006, 2007, 2013)1 (2014)4 (2007, 2015, 2023, 2024)6 (2003, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2026)6 (2004, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2025)2 (2003, 2010)5 (2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2023)4 (2007, 2015, 2021, 2024)2 (2022, 2026)2 (2021, 2025) –1 (2025)–1 (2023)1 (2006) – – –2 (2008, 2010)4 (2005, 2006, 2009, 2011) –2 (2017, 2022)4 (2016, 2018, 2019, 2026) –1 (2004) ––1 (2024)– – –1 (2003) – –1 (2022)
Trophy Year Host Champions Runners-up Third2005 Prague2006 Limoges2007 Zagreb2008Multiple2009 Bruges2010 Bucharest2011 Riga2012Multiple2013 Prague2014 Bergen2015 Kaunas2016Multiple2017Multiple2018Multiple2019Multiple2020 Series not played because of COVID-19 pandemic.2021 Zagreb2022Multiple 2023Multiple2024Multiple
Conference Year Host Champions Runners-up Third2007 Zenica2009 Zenica2010 Odense2011 Zánka2013 Bratislava2014 Vilnius2015 Zagreb2016 Sarajevo2017 Košice2018 Zagreb2019 Zagreb2020 Series not played because of COVID-19 pandemic.2021 Belgrade2022 Belgrade2023 Belgrade2024 Belgrade
Other Tournaments Emerging Nations Year Host Champions Runners-up Third2007 Katowice2008 Vienna2009 Zánka2010 Zánka2011 Zánka2012 Zánka
References
External links
European European Women's Sevens at Rugby7.com