Rugby Europe Women's Championship
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023 Rugby Europe Women's Championship
SportRugby union
Founded1988 (1988)
No. of teams13
Countries Belgium
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Finland
 Germany
 Kazakhstan
 Luxembourg
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Romania
 Russia
 Serbia
 Sweden
 Spain
ContinentEurope
Most recent
champion(s)
 Spain
(2023)
Most titles Spain (10 titles)

The Rugby Europe Women's Championship is an international competition contested between women's national teams who are members of Rugby Europe (known from 1999 to 2014 as FIRA - Association of European Rugby, and FIRA before that). The competition has its origins in a four nation "European Cup" held in 1988 but did not become an official FIRA competition until 1995. The competition has grown significantly and in some years it attracts sufficient entrants for it to be divided into two "Pools" (A and B) with the eight highest ranked entrants in any year (based on Rugby Europe rankings) in Pool A.

Since 2000 only the winner of the tournament held in between the World Cups (every four years, as highlighted) is officially recognised "European Champions", although teams winning tournaments in other years are often unofficially also described as "European Champions". This can cause some confusion, not least because the structure of the four-yearly tournament is invariably identical to the annual event. To make identification easier the competitions in the four yearly cycle are highlighted.

The only major difference between the "official" European Championships and other tournaments is that in the latter, between 2001 and 2007, England and France tended not to send their full strength national squads to the competition - though until 2007 they still played as "England" or "France". This has resulted in some confusion about the status of games played by these nations - England do not consider their games to be full internationals (or "tests")[1] and do not award caps, whereas while France also do not give caps to their players in such matches, they do recognise the games as tests matches.[2] FIRA and all other competing nations consider all the games to be "tests".[3]

The 2009 tournament acted as Europe's qualification tournament for the World Cup (all entrants sending full strength squads), after which the test match status problem was finally resolved. From 2010 onwards it was announced [4] that the non-Championship tournaments would be known as the "European Trophy" and any Six Nations entrants would officially be "A" sides (though in 2010 Italy, as they had not qualified for the 2010 World Cup, entered their full strength squad).

Championship tournament

Year Host Final Third place match
Winner Score Runner-up 3rd place Score 4th place
1988[5]
Details
France
France
France
France
8 - 6 United Kingdom
Great Britain
Netherlands
Netherlands
10-6 Italy
Italy
1995
Details
Italy
Italy
Spain
Spain
22 - 6 France
France
Italy
Italy
23 - 19 Netherlands
Netherlands
1996
Details
Spain
Spain
France
France
15 - 10 Spain
Spain
Italy
Italy
11 - 6 Netherlands
Netherlands
1997
Details
France
France
England
England
24 - 8 Scotland
Scotland
Spain
Spain
25 - 8 France
France
1998
No tournament due to the 1998 Rugby World Cup
1999
Details
Italy
Italy
France
France
13 - 5 Spain
Spain
Scotland
Scotland
15 - 13 England
England
2000
Details
Spain
Spain
France
France
31 - 0 Spain
Spain
England
England
40 - 20 Scotland
Scotland
2001
Details
France
France
Scotland
Scotland
15 - 3 Spain
Spain
England
England
34 - 23 France
France
2002
Details
Italy
Italy
Italy
Italy
35 - 24 Sweden
Sweden
Germany
Germany
12 - 10 Netherlands
Netherlands
2003
Details
Sweden
Sweden
Spain
Spain
16 - 10 France
France
Sweden
Sweden
15 - 10 Italy
Italy
2004
Details
France
France
France
France
8 - 6 England
England
Scotland
Scotland
11 - 10 Wales
Wales
2005
Details
Germany
Germany
Italy
Italy
22 - 3 Netherlands
Netherlands
Sweden
Sweden
17 - 5 Germany
Germany
2006
Details
Italy
Italy
Italy
Italy
28 - 7 Netherlands
Netherlands
Russia
Russia
- Sweden
Sweden
2007
Details
Spain
Spain
England
England
27 - 17 France
France
Spain
Spain
37 - 0 Netherlands
Netherlands
2008
Details
Netherlands
Netherlands
England
England
12 - 6 Wales
Wales
Ireland
Ireland
12 - 12
(try count)
France
France
2009
Details
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
Joint
winners
Scotland
Scotland
Netherlands
Netherlands
Joint
third
Spain
Spain
2010
Details
France
France
Spain
Spain
31-13 Italy
Italy
Netherlands
Netherlands
47-19 Sweden
Sweden
2011
Details
Spain
Spain
England
England A
5-3 Spain
Spain
France
France A
17-7 Italy
Italy A
2012
Details
Italy
Italy
England
England
Pool France
France
Italy
Italy
Pool Spain
Spain
2013
Details
Spain
Spain
Spain
Spain
WC QF Samoa
Samoa
2014
Details
Belgium
Belgium
Netherlands
Netherlands
12-3 Belgium
Belgium
Russia
Russia
34-21 Switzerland
Switzerland
2015
Details
Switzerland
Switzerland
Belgium
Belgium
50-20 Switzerland
Switzerland
Russia
Russia
41-15 Czech Republic
Czech Republic
2016
Details
Spain
Spain
Spain
Spain
35-7 Netherlands
Netherlands
Russia
Russia
74-5 Belgium
Belgium
2017
No tournament due to the 2017 Rugby World Cup
2018
Details
Belgium
Belgium
Spain
Spain
40-7 Netherlands
Netherlands
Germany
Germany
24-5 Belgium
Belgium
2019
Details
Various Spain
Spain
54-0 Netherlands
Netherlands
Russia
Russia
22-5 Germany
Germany
2020
Details
Various Spain
Spain
Round-robin Russia
Russia
Netherlands
Netherlands
2021
No tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2022
Details
Various Spain
Spain
Round-robin Russia
Russia
Netherlands
Netherlands
2023
Details
Various Spain
Spain
Round-robin Netherlands
Netherlands
Sweden
Sweden
2024
Details
Various TBD Round-robin TBD TBD Round-robin TBD

Performance of nations

All tournaments

Teams reaching the top four
TeamTitlesRunners-upThird placeFourth place
 Spain 10 5 2 2
 France 5 4 1 3
 England 5 1 2 1
 Italy 3 1 3 4
 Netherlands 1 6 5 4
 Scotland 1 2 3 1
 Sweden 1 1 3 2
 Belgium 1 1 2
 Czech Republic 1 1
  Switzerland 2 1
 Wales 1 1
 Great Britain 1
 Samoa 1
 Russia 1 5
 Germany 2 2
 Ireland 1
 Finland 1

Official FIRA tournaments

  1.  France - 4 titles, 3 runners-up, 1 third, 3 fourths
  2.  England - 4 titles, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 1 fourth
  3.  Spain - 3 titles, 5 runners-up, 3 thirds
  4.  Italy - 3 titles, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 2 fourth
  5.  Scotland - 2 titles, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 1 fourth
  6.  Sweden - 1 title, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 2 fourth
  7.  Netherlands - 2 runners-up, 2 third, 4 fourths
  8.  Wales - 1 runner-up, 1 fourth
  9.  Germany - 1 third, 1 fourth
  10.  Russia - 1 third
  11.  Ireland - 1 third

"European Championships"

  1.  France - 5 titles, 1 runner-up, 2 fourths
  2.  England - 2 titles, 1 runner-up, 1 third, 1 fourth
  3.  Spain - 1 title, 3 runners-up, 1 third
  4.  Scotland - 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 1 fourth
  5.  Wales - 1 runner-up, 1 fourth
  6.  Great Britain - 1 runner-up
  7.  Italy - 2 thirds
  8.  Netherlands - 1 third, 2 fourths
  9.  Ireland - 1 third

Trophy tournament

Year Host Final Third place match
Winner Score Runner-up 3rd place Score 4th place
2000
Details
Spain
Spain
France
French Flanders
Pool Netherlands
Netherlands
Germany
Germany
2001
Details
France
France
Sweden
Sweden
Pool Netherlands
Netherlands
Germany
Germany
Pool Belgium
Belgium
2003
Details
Netherlands
Netherlands
Netherlands
Netherlands
19 - 12 Germany
Germany
Norway
Norway
10 - 10
(3 - 2 penalties)
Denmark
Denmark
2004
Details
France
France
Netherlands
Netherlands
Pool Germany
Germany
Norway
Norway
Pool Denmark
Denmark
2005
Details
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Russia
Russia
Pool Norway
Norway
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
2006
Details
Italy
Italy
Netherlands
Netherlands
Pool Sweden
Sweden
Norway
Norway
2007
Details
Belgium
Belgium
France
French Universities
13 - 7 Belgium
Belgium
Germany
Germany
15 - 0 Romania
Romania
2008
Details
Netherlands
Netherlands
Russia
Russia
31 - 14 France
French Defence
Germany
Germany
19 - 15 Belgium
Belgium
2012
Details
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
10 - 3 Netherlands
Netherlands
Russia
Russia
45 - 17 Finland
Finland
2014
Details
Belgium
Belgium
Netherlands
Netherlands
12 - 3 Belgium
Belgium
Russia
Russia
31 - 24 Switzerland
Switzerland
2015
Details
Switzerland
Switzerland
Belgium
Belgium
50 - 20 Switzerland
Switzerland
Russia
Russia
41 - 15 Czech Republic
Czech Republic
2018–19
Details
Various Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Round-robin Switzerland
Switzerland
Finland
Finland
2019–20
Details
Various Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Round-robin Switzerland
Switzerland
Sweden
Sweden
Round-robin Finland
Finland
2021–22
Details
Various Sweden
Sweden
Round-robin Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Switzerland
Switzerland
Round-robin Finland
Finland
2022–23
Details
Various Portugal
Portugal
Round-robin Finland
Finland
Germany
Germany
Round-robin Czech Republic
Czech Republic

Performance of nations

  1.  Netherlands - 4 titles, 3 runners-up
  2.  Sweden - 3 titles, 1 runner-up
  3.  Russia - 2 titles, 3 third
  4.  Belgium - 1 title, 2 runners-up, 2 fourths
  5.  Czech Republic - 1 title, 1 runners-up, 1 fourth
  6.  France French Flanders - 1 title
  7.  Portugal - 1 title
  8. France French Universities - 1 title
  9.  Germany - 2 runners-up, 4 thirds
  10.   Switzerland - 2 runners-up, 1 third, 1 fourth
  11.  Norway - 1 runner-up, 3 thirds
  12. France French Defence - 1 runner-up
  13.  Finland - 1 third, 2 fourth
  14.  Bosnia and Herzegovina - 1 third
  15.  Denmark - 2 fourths
  16.  Romania - 1 fourth

See also

References

  1. http://www.rfu.com/womens
  2. See statistical data on the French RFU website
  3. As detailed in reports on the various national websites
  4. See [2010 Women's European Trophy] for details
  5. This tournament was not run by FIRA
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