- Cape Town and Krakow will host the World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025 events
- Cape Town will host the opening two rounds on 1-2 and 7-8 March featuring 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams
- The third round will be played in Krakow from 11-12 April.
The dates and destinations of the HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 were unveiled on Thursday as 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams from all six World Rugby regions will battle for promotion to HSBC SVNS.
The Challenger series begins with back-to-back events in Cape Town on 1 – 2 and 7 – 8 March, with the top ranked eight men’s and women’s teams progressing to the third and final tournament at the Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium in Krakow on 11 – 12 April.
The four men’s and women’s teams with the most cumulative points gained across the three Challenger rounds will then qualify for the HSBC SVNS Play Off in Los Angeles on 3 – 4 May where they will face the bottom four ranked teams from HSBC SVNS 2025 in a high stakes promotion and relegation tournament with four coveted places in future SVNS at stake.
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Kenya and Uruguay men and China women were successful in achieving promotion from the Challenger in 2024 following their victories in the all-important final matches of the HSBC SVNS Play Off tournament, demonstrating the clear pathway available to all teams to reach the pinnacle of international rugby sevens.
All teams qualify for the Challenger via regional competitions and ten men’s teams have already secured their places: Brazil, Canada, Chile, Georgia, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong China, Madagascar, Portugal and Uganda.
In the women’s side, the women’s national rugby 7s side, Kenya Lionesses, Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Czechia, Hong Kong China, Mexico, Thailand, Poland, South Africa and Uganda are the 11 teams to have secured their places in the women’s competition.
The remaining men’s and women’s teams will qualify through the Oceania Rugby Sevens tournament on 7-8 December.
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World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025
Nigel Cass, World Rugby Chief Competitions and Performance Officer said: “We are delighted to confirm the dates and locations of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025.
“Last year’s Challenger saw intense, exciting and high quality competition from start to finish, demonstrating the continued growth and development of international sevens across the globe.
“The promotion of Kenya and Uruguay men and China women to HSBC SVNS 2025 we saw the global pathway to reach the top level of international rugby sevens working to great effect.
“World Rugby is looking forward to working with the tournament hosts to deliver another high quality Challenger series and we are very grateful to HSBC for their continued excellent support and partnership which is helping to grow this exciting and youthful Olympic sport further around the world.”
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