Súper Liga Americana de Rugby

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Superliga Americana de Rugby
Upcoming season or competition:
Current sports event 2022 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby season
Logo-super-liga-americana-SLAR-150x150-2019.png
SportRugby union
Founded2019; 3 years ago (2019)
Inaugural season2020
No. of teams6
Countries
ConfederationSudamérica Rugby
Most recent
champion(s)
Jaguares XV
(2021)
Most titlesJaguares XV (1)
Official websiteslar.rugby

The Superliga Americana de Rugby (SLAR; English: American Rugby Superleague) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for many countries in South America. In the 2020 season it will be contested by five teams with a team each from; Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay with a future team from Colombia joining in 2021 after playing an exhibition series against the 5th-placed team at the end of the season later in May 2020.[1] Officially sanctioned by Sudamérica Rugby, which is consequently part of World Rugby, the league was officially launched in November 29, 2019.[2]

Starting in 2021, SLAR is being held in parallel with Major League Rugby (in the United States and Canada) in order to provide quality competition in the Americas for the sport of rugby union, with MLR as the "northern conference" and SLAR as the "southern conference".

History[]

SLAR was first announced in April 2019,[3] with in mind of forming between six and eight professional franchises, two each in Uruguay and Brazil meanwhile Argentina and Chile will get a franchise each with plans to add two teams in 2021 with an additional team in Argentina and one from Paraguay. In November, SLAR's plans are changing, as they are expecting a league of seven clubs, two each in Brazil and Uruguay with one team each in Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay.[4]

At the official announcement, SLAR confirmed the number of the teams for the 2020 season will be set at five[5] for the regular season due to the economical issues but SLAR is expected to be expanded at some point in the future, possibly in 2021 when the Cafeteros Pro (Colombia) will join at the end of the regular season to play a home and away series against the 5th-place finisher in the 2020 season before joining the league full-time.

Competition Format[]

In 2020, Superliga Americana de Rugby was to span four months from February through May. For the first season, five of the six clubs Ceibos , Corinthians, Selknam, Olímpia Lions, and Peñarol[6] planned to take part in a double round-robin regular season, playing twice against each other team, once at home and once away, for a total of eight games.[7] The top four teams would qualify for the championship playoffs to determine a season champion.[8] The fifth place regular season team would have played a series against Los Cafeteros Pro to determine the fifth-place team. However, on March 17, 2020, the season was postponed until 2021,[9] as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like Super Rugby, Major League Rugby, and the Pro14, this league has no promotion and relegation.

Teams[]

class=notpageimage|
Location of teams of the 2021 Superliga Americana de Rugby.

Current teams[]

There are six teams confirmed for the 2021 Superliga Americana de Rugby season.[1][6]

Team City Country Stadium Capacity Joined Coach
Cafeteros Pro Medellín Colombia TBA TBA 2021 Rodolfo Ambrosio
Cobras São Paulo Brazil TBA TBA 2020 Emiliano Bergamaschi
Jaguares XV Buenos Aires Argentina TBC TBC 2021 Ignacio Fernández Lobbe
Olímpia Lions Asunción Paraguay Estadio Héroes de Curupayty 3,000 2020 Raúl Pérez
Peñarol Montevideo Uruguay Estadio Charrúa 14,000 2020 Pablo Bouza
Selknam Santiago Chile Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos 40,000 2020 Nicolás Bruzzone

Timeline[]

Jaguares (Super Rugby)Cafeteros ProSelknam (rugby union)Peñarol RugbyOlímpia LionsCobras Brasil XVCobras Brasil XVCeibos

Expansion teams[]

On 10 November 2020, Colombia has formalized professional rugby. The South American country’s first professional rugby team will be Cafeteros Pro. The team will enter the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) in 2021.[10] On 6 January 2021, UAR replaced the Córdoba based team Ceibos with the Jaguares XV, following the Jaguares departure from Super Rugby.[11][12] On 4 February 2021, the Brazilian side of the competition was renamed Cobras Brasil XV, dropping their affiliation with the Corinthians multi-sport club.[13]

Expansion candidates[]

At the initial announcement, Brazil and Uruguay originally would have two team each, but instead one team each (Corinthians and Peñarol) will play in 2020 season, meaning it may be possible for the two countries to expand in the future (Club Nacional de Football was hinted as a possibility in Uruguay) [4] besides a possible Mexican team or a second Chilean team.[14][15] With the possible change of Super Rugby to a Trans-Tasman (Australasian) competition, Argentina could add a second team, the Jaguares, based in Buenos Aires, in 2021.[16][17][10] In November 2020, another new team proposed for 2021 with official expression of interest by Sudamérica Rugby for the inclusion of a second Argentine Buenos Aires based team in the 2021 SLAR,[18] but a second Argentine team won't play in 2021 and most Argentine players will depart the team either overseas, or enter the draft for the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby season.[19] In August and September 2021 it was rumoured that a second Argentine franchise could join the competition in the future, based in Tucumán, but this possible expansion was posponed in 2023 season.[20][21]

Former teams[]

Team Location Country Stadium Joined Left
Ceibos Córdoba Argentina Tala RC
2020
2021 (pre-season)[11]
Corinthians São Paulo Brazil
2020
2021 (pre-season)

Champions[]

By year[]

Year Final Semi-finalists Num.
Teams
Ref.
Champion Score Runner-up Higher seeded Lower seeded
2020 (Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic)
2021 Argentina Jaguares XV 36–28 Uruguay Peñarol Chile Selknam Paraguay Olímpia Lions
6
[22]

By team[]

Club Winner Runner up
Jaguares XV 1 (2021) 0
Peñarol 0 1 (2021)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "South American SuperLiga launched in Montevideo". Americas Rugby News. 2019-11-30. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  2. ^ Rugby, Sudamérica. "La Superliga Americana de Rugby tiene fixture". Sudamérica Rugby (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  3. ^ Observador, El. "TV, contratos, jugadores: los siguientes pasos de la Liga profesional de rugby". El Observador. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  4. ^ a b "The Latest On the Súper Liga Americana". Americas Rugby News. 2019-11-08. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  5. ^ "Sudamérica tendrá competencia, se viene la Liga, primer torneo profesional". Diario El Ciudadano y la Región (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  6. ^ a b La Superliga Americana va tomando forma by Gabriel Sarquis Marca, 29 Dec 2019
  7. ^ Nace la Superliga Americana, un impulso vital para el rugby regional by Alejo Miranda La Nación, 1 Dec 2019
  8. ^ "Sudamérica Rugby: La Súper Liga Americana de Rugby comenzará en 2020". Chile Rugby (in European Spanish). 2019-04-28. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  9. ^ "La Superliga Americana de rugby se suspende hasta 2021". SLAR (in European Spanish). 2020-03-17. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  10. ^ a b "Colombia has formalized professional rugby". Americas Rugby News. 2020-11-10. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  11. ^ a b "Jaguares to play in Súper Liga Americana de Rugby".
  12. ^ @JaguaresARG (23 January 2021). "¡Vuelve #JaguaresXV, vuelve el rugby a la región! El equipo participará en la @SLARugby junto a las franquicias de Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay y Uruguay en el certamen continental que se disputará, entre el 16 de marzo y el 15 de mayo, en dos sedes fijas a definir" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  13. ^ "Cobras Brasil XV replace Corinthians in 2021 SLAR". Americas Rugby News. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  14. ^ "Hernández backs Súper Liga Americana for Argentina". Americas Rugby News. 2020-09-12. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  15. ^ "Súper Liga Americana Expansion". Americas Rugby News. 2020-09-27. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  16. ^ "Jaguares in 2021: Australia, South Africa or South America". Americas Rugby News. 2020-07-26. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  17. ^ "Super Rugby set to return to 12 teams without Jaguares". Americas Rugby News. 2020-11-04. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  18. ^ Sudamérica Rugby has expressed interest in including Los Jaguares in the 2021 SLAR competition
  19. ^ "Jaguares to be drafted into SLAR teams". Americas Rugby News. 19 December 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  20. ^ "¡Tucumán apunta a la SLAR!". A Pleno Rugby (in Spanish). 31 August 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  21. ^ "Tucumán y el sueño de su propia franquicia". A Pleno Rugby (in Spanish). 29 September 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  22. ^ Los Jaguares XV fueron campeones invictos en la Superliga Americana de Rugby on Infobae, 16 May 2021

External links[]

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