The Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series for 2026 for women and men gets underway on Friday in Hamburg, Germany.
This coming weekend, 12 women’s and 12 men’s teams will battle it out for crucial points.
Then, between July 24 and 26 in Split, Croatia, they will do the same before the overall champions are crowned in both categories. At that stage the two last-ranked teams in both categories will be relegated to the Trophy for 2027.
Loads to play for then with all of the teams aiming to emulate what the 2025 overall champions Great Britain (women) and France (men) did.
In the women’s competition, Great Britain are in Pool A with Belgium Ireland and Denmark. The Danes have come up from the Trophy having finished second overall to Türkiye last year.
Poland, who were runners-up in the Championship last year, are in Pool B with Czechia, Germany and Türkiye while Pool C is headed up by last year’s third placed team France along with Spain, Portugal and Sweden.
The eight best ranked teams after the pool phase will go into the quarter-finals, with the other teams heading into rankings matches.
Great Britain were the winners of event one last year in Makarska, Croatia, with France the runners-up and Poland third.
In the men’s competition, France are in Pool A with Portugal, Great Britain and Ukraine. The Ukranians have come up from the Trophy having finished second overall to Poland last year.
Last year’s Championship runners-up Spain are in Pool B with Germany Czechia and Poland and 2025 third placed Italy are in Pool C with Belgium, Georgia and Lithuania.
Like in the women’s event, the eight best ranked teams after the pool phase will go into the quarter-finals with the other teams heading into rankings matches.
There will be lots of twists and turns to come over the next three days - sevens always throws up excitement - and the first tie on Friday will be France versus Sweden in the women’s event at 9am local time (7am UTC).
The first tie in the men’s competition will be France versus Ukraine at 11.30am local time (9.30am UTC).
You can watch all the action on Rugby Europe TV and our
By Gary Heatly
Photos by Neil Kennedy
