Rugby Europe Sevens

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (April 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Rugby Europe Sevens

Current season, competition or edition: 2021 Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series
Sport	Rugby sevens
Founded	2002 (initially) 2011 (reformed)
No. of teams	12
Country	European
Most recent champion(s)	Spain (1st title)
Most titles	Portugal (8 titles)

The Rugby Europe Sevens are a series of rugby sevens tournaments held by Rugby Europe. It was formerly known as the FIRA-AER Sevens until 2013, and the Sevens Grand Prix Series until 2021.^[1] Only one annual tournament existed prior to 2011, when Rugby Europe created a series of tournaments, following the model of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The main division is known as the Rugby Europe Championship Series, formerly known the Grand Prix, followed by the Trophy Series, and Conference 1.^[1] The competitions use a promotion/relegation system.

Format[]

In the Grand Prix, twelve teams play in several tournaments each summer throughout Europe. Each tournament spans two days — the first day is a pool phase and the second day is a knockout phase. During the pool phase, the teams are divided into three pools of four teams each. After the pool phase, the top eight teams (two first of each pool, plus two best-performing third place teams) advance to the Cup tournament; the other four teams play for the Challenge Trophy.

At the end of each tournament, teams are awarded points based on their performance. At the end of the series, the team with the most points is declared the champion. The team with the fewest points is relegated from the Grand Prix to the Trophy competition, whereas the champion of the Trophy competition is promoted to next season's Grand Prix.

History[]

2002–2010[]

A number of qualifying tournaments lead up to a finals tournament, which functions as the European championship and, in 2008, also as the qualifying stage for the Sevens World Cup.

The first European Championship was held in 2002 in Heidelberg, Germany, and was won by Portugal, the team that won every men's championship since except 2007 and 2009, when Russia won. In 2003, the tournament was again held in Heidelberg and, in 2004, Palma de Mallorca, Spain was the host. From 2005 to 2007, Moscow was the host of the tournament.

Hanover held the tournament for the first time in 2008 and did so again in 2009. In 2010, the tournament return to Moscow.

Since 2011[]

In 2011, the format of the competition changed. The twelve best teams meet on several tournaments, following the model of the IRB Sevens World Series. The name also changed, the European Championship was known as Sevens Grand Prix Series.

The first edition of this competition was held in 2011 with a victory of Portugal.

Top division[]

Championship era[]

Edition	Year	Events	Champions	Runners-up	Third	Fourth
I	2002	1	Portugal	Georgia	Germany	France
II	2003	1	Portugal	France	Georgia	Germany
III	2004	1	Portugal	Italy	Ireland	Scotland
IV	2005	1	Portugal	Russia	Italy	France
V	2006	1	Portugal	Russia	Italy	France
VI	2007	1	Russia	France	Moldova	Spain
VII	2008	1	Portugal	Wales	Georgia	Ireland
VIII	2009	1	Russia	France	Italy	Spain
IX	2010	1	Portugal	France	Russia	Spain

Grand Prix Series era[]

Edition	Year	Events	Champions	Runners-up	Third	Fourth
X	2011	4	Portugal	England	Spain	Russia
XI	2012	3	England	Portugal	France	Spain
XII	2013	2	England	France	Russia	Portugal
XIII	2014	4	France	Scotland	England	Russia
XIV	2015	3	France	Spain	England	Russia
XV	2016	3	Russia	France	Spain	Germany
XVI	2017	4	Russia	Ireland	Spain	Wales
XVII	2018	4	Ireland	Germany	Russia	England
XVIII	2019	2	Germany	France	Ireland	Spain
–	2020	Series not played because of COVID-19 pandemic.

Championship Series era[]

Edition	Year	Events	Champions	Runners-up	Third	Fourth
XIX	2021	2	Spain	Germany	Russia	Lithuania

Team records[]

Team	Champions	Runners-up	Third	Fourth
Portugal	8 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011)	1 (2012)	–	1 (2013)
Russia	4 (2007, 2009, 2016, 2017)	2 (2005, 2006)	4 (2010, 2013, 2018, 2021)	3 (2011, 2014, 2015,)
France	2 (2014, 2015)	7 (2003, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019)	1 (2012)	3 (2002, 2005, 2006)
England	2 (2012, 2013)	1 (2011)	2 (2014, 2015)	1 (2018)
Germany	1 (2019)	2 (2018, 2021)	1 (2002)	2 (2003, 2016)
Spain	1 (2021)	1 (2015)	3 (2011, 2016, 2017)	5 (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2019)
Ireland	1 (2018)	1 (2017)	2 (2004, 2019)	1 (2008)
Italy	–	1 (2004)	3 (2005, 2006, 2009)	–
Georgia	–	1 (2002)	2 (2003, 2008)	–
Scotland	–	1 (2014)	–	1 (2004)
Wales	–	1 (2008)	–	1 (2017)
Moldova	–	–	1 (2007)	–
Lithuania	–	–	–	1 (2021)
Total	19	19	19	19

Updated to 2021

Lower divisions[]

Division A / Trophy[]

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Third	Fourth
	Germany	Belgium	Sweden	Lithuania
	Romania	Belgium	Lithuania	Cyprus
	Belgium	Poland	Netherlands	Sweden
2014	Lithuania	Poland	Cyprus	Sweden
2015	Poland	Ukraine	Latvia	Moldova
2016	Ireland	Ukraine	Sweden	Romania
2017	Sweden	Romania	Luxembourg	Ukraine
2018	Romania	Belgium	Lithuania	Denmark
2019	Lithuania	Ukraine	Belgium	Croatia
	Series not played because of COVID-19 pandemic.
2021	Czech Republic	Belgium	Ukraine	Sweden

Division B / Conference 1[]

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Third
	Serbia	Latvia	Hungary
	Croatia	Latvia	Norway
(North)	Latvia	Norway	Luxembourg
(South)		Hungary	Switzerland
(North)	Czech Republic	Norway	Luxembourg
(South)	Hungary		Switzerland
2015	Ireland	Serbia
2016	Croatia	Luxembourg	Hungary
2017	Hungary
2018	Czech Republic	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Moldova
2019	Hungary	Turkey	Moldova
	Series not played because of COVID-19 pandemic.
2021[2]			Moldova

Conference 2[]

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Third
2015	Ireland	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Serbia
2016		Montenegro
2017
2018	Switzerland	Andorra

Partners[]

• Société Générale, Eurosport 2 (official broadcaster), Berugbe^{[citation needed]}

References[]

External links[]

• Grand Prix Series on FIRA-AER's official website
• Rugby7.com: About the European Grand Prix Series