Rugby Europe Women's Sevens
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Championship Series
SportRugby sevens
Founded2003
Countries12 (in 2023)
Most recent
champion(s)
 France (3rd title)
Most titles Russia (7 titles)

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

The championship Trophy beside the ball of the 2015 edition.

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.

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).

Tournaments

Championship Series

European Women Sevens Championship
Year Place Champions Runners-up Third
2003France Lunel Spain France  Switzerland
2004France Limoges England Italy France
2005France Lunel England Spain Netherlands
2006France Limoges Wales England Netherlands
2007France Lunel France England Spain
2008France Limoges England Netherlands Russia
2009Germany Hanover England Spain Netherlands
2010Russia Moscow Spain Netherlands France
2011Romania Bucharest England Spain Netherlands
Grand Prix Series
2012Multiple England Spain France
2013Multiple Russia England France
2014Multiple Russia France England
2015Multiple France Russia Spain
2016Multiple Russia France Ireland
2017Multiple Russia Ireland France
2018Multiple Russia France Ireland
2019Multiple Russia France Ireland
2020 Series not played because of COVID-19 pandemic.
Championship Series
2021Multiple Russia Poland Spain
2022Multiple Poland Ireland Scotland
2023 Multiple  France  Spain  Great Britain

Team records for Championship Series

Team Champions Runners-up Third
 Russia 7 (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021) 1 (2015) 1 (2008)
 England 6 (2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012) 3 (2006, 2007, 2013) 1 (2014)
 France 3 (2007, 2015, 2023) 5 (2003, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019) 5 (2004, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017)
 Spain 2 (2003, 2010) 5 (2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2023) 3 (2007, 2015, 2021)
 Poland 1 (2022) 1 (2021)
 Wales 1 (2006)
 Netherlands 2 (2008, 2010) 4 (2005, 2006, 2009, 2011)
 Ireland 2 (2017, 2022) 3 (2016, 2018, 2019)
 Italy 1 (2004)
  Switzerland 1 (2003)
 Scotland 1 (2022)
 Great Britain 1 (2023)

Trophy

Year Host Champions Runners-up Third
2013 Czech Republic Prague  Belgium  Sweden  Czech Republic
2014 Norway Bergen  Ukraine  Scotland  Romania
2015 Lithuania Kaunas  Belgium  Finland  Sweden
2016 Multiple  Sweden  Poland  Scotland
2017 Multiple  Scotland  Germany  Ukraine
2018 Multiple  Netherlands  Ukraine  Sweden
2019 Multiple  Germany  Romania  Czech Republic
2020 Series not played because of COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 Croatia Zagreb  Ukraine  Czech Republic  Sweden
2022 Multiple [1]  England  Italy  Portugal
2023 Multiple  Ukraine  Turkey  Finland

Conference

Year Host Champions Runners-up Third
2013 Slovakia Bratislava  Finland  Norway  Israel
2014 Lithuania Vilnius  Hungary  Lithuania  Israel
2015 Croatia Zagreb  Denmark  Israel  Croatia
2016 Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo  Latvia  Malta  Turkey
2017 Slovakia Košice  Norway  Austria  Georgia
2018 Croatia Zagreb  Georgia  Turkey  Croatia
2019 Croatia Zagreb  Moldova  Denmark  Austria
2020 Series not played because of COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 Serbia Belgrade  Israel  Austria  Croatia
2022 Serbia Belgrade  Austria  Bulgaria  Latvia
2023 Serbia Belgrade   Switzerland  Andorra  Slovakia

References

  1. "England women and Ireland men complete doubles to take titles". Rugby Europe. June 2022. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
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