The 2025 Rugby Europe Championship will be the ninth Rugby Europe Championship, the annual rugby union competition for the top European national teams outside the Six Nations Championship, and the 54th edition of the competition (including all its previous incarnations as the FIRA Tournament, Rugby Union European Cup, FIRA Nations Cup, FIRA Trophy, and European Nations Cup).[1]
| 2025 Rugby Europe Championship | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 31 January – 16 March 2025 | ||
| Countries | |||
| Tournament statistics | |||
| |||
Eight teams took part in the 2024 championship. The championship was contested by Belgium, Georgia, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Poland.[2] Georgia won the previous championship after defeating Portugal in the final, claiming their 16th title. Poland were relegated. After winning the 2023-24 Rugby Europe Trophy, Switzerland were promoted to the Championship for the 2025 season. This will be the first time in their history that they are in the top division.[citation needed]
The serpentine system was applied to allocate each team to their respective groups.[3] Each team played a total of five games (three round robin group matches to determine the team's path and two play-off matches).[3] Seeding (for a group) and relegation are calculated over a two-year cycle, as is the promotion from the Trophy competition.[3]
This year's edition of the Rugby Europe Championship doubles as the year of the 2027 Rugby World Cup qualifiers for the European region. The first four teams automatically qualify for the tournament as Europe 1, Europe 2, Europe 3 and Europe 4, respectively while the team in fifth place advances to the final qualification tournament as Europe 5.[4]
Participants
edit| Nation | Stadium | Head coach | Captain | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home stadium | Capacity | Location | |||
 Belgium
|
Stade Charles Tondreau | 8,000 | Mons |  Laurent Dossat
|
Jens Torfs |
 Georgia
|
Avchala Stadium | 3,500 | Tbilisi |  Richard Cockerill
|
Vasil Lobzhanidze |
 Germany
|
Auestadion | 18,737 | Kassel | Mark Kuhlmann
|
Jörn Schröder |
 Netherlands
|
NRCA Stadium | 7,000 | Amsterdam |  Lyn Jones
|
Hugo Langelaan |
 Portugal
|
Estádio do Restelo Estádio Nacional |
19,856 37,593 |
Lisbon |  Simon Mannix
|
Tomás Appleton |
 Romania
|
Stadionul Arcul de Triumf Botoșani Municipal Stadium |
8,207 7,782 |
Bucharest Botoșani |
David Gérard
|
Mihai Macovei |
 Spain
|
Estadio José Zorrilla Estadio Nacional Complutense |
27,618 12,400 |
Valladolid Madrid |
 Pablo Bouza
|
Jon Zabala |
 Switzerland
|
Stade Municipal Yverdon | 6,600 | Yverdon-les-Bains | Olivier Nier
|
Cyril Lin |
World Cup qualification
edit| Nation | Rank | Began play | Qualifying status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium |
27 | 1 February 2025 | |
| England |
4 | N/A | Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup |
| France |
3 | N/A | Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup |
| Georgia |
12 | 1 February 2025 | |
| Germany |
32 | 31 January 2025 | |
 Ireland |
7 | N/A | Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup |
 Italy |
15 | N/A | Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup |
| Netherlands |
26 | 2 February 2025 | |
| Portugal |
15 | 1 February 2025 | |
| Romania |
20 | 31 January 2025 | |
 Scotland |
8 | N/A | Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup |
| Spain |
18 | 2 February 2025 | |
| Switzerland |
28 | 1 February 2025 | |
| Wales |
5 | N/A | Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup |
Tables and fixtures
editPool A
edit| Advances to the Grand Finals Semi-Finals |
| Advances to the Ranking Finals Semi-Finals |
| Pos. | Team | Games | Points | Tries | TBP | LBP | Table points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | For | Against | Diff | |||||
| 1 | Georgia |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Netherlands |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Spain |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Switzerland |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Source - [5] Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win – 4 points | Draw – 2 points | At least 3 more tries than opponent – 1 point | Loss within 7 points – 1 point[6] | ||||||||||||||
Week 1
editWeek 2
editWeek 3
edit
Pool B
edit| Advances to the Grand Finals Semi-Finals |
| Advances to the Ranking Finals Semi-Finals |
| Pos. | Team | Games | Points | Tries | TBP | LBP | Table points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | For | Against | Diff | |||||
| 1 | Belgium |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Germany |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Portugal |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Romania |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Source - [5] Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win – 4 points | Draw – 2 points | At least 3 more tries than opponent – 1 point | Loss within 7 points – 1 point | ||||||||||||||
Week 1
editWeek 2
editWeek 3
editRanking Finals
editSemi-finals
edit| 1–2 March 2025 TBA |
| TBA | v | TBA |
| TBA Referee: TBA |
| 1–2 March 2025 TBA |
| TBA | v | TBA |
| TBA Referee: TBA |
Seventh-place final
edit| 15-16 March TBA |
| TBA | v | TBA |
| TBA Referee: TBA |
Fifth-place final
edit| 15-16 March TBA |
| TBA | v | TBA |
| TBA Referee: TBA |
Grand Finals
editSemi-finals
edit| 1–2 March 2025 TBA |
| TBA | v | TBA |
| TBA Referee: TBA |
| 1–2 March 2025 TBA |
| TBA | v | TBA |
| TBA Referee: TBA |
Bronze Final
edit| 15-16 March TBA |
| TBA | v | TBA |
| TBA Referee: TBA |
Final
edit| 15-16 March TBA |
| TBA | v | TBA |
| TBA Referee: TBA |
Final standings
edit| Pos. | Team | Points | 2027 RWC qualification | WRNC Division 2 qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TBA | 10 | Qualified as Europe 1 | Qualified as Europe 1 |
| 2 | TBA | 8 | Qualified as Europe 2 | Qualified as Europe 2 |
| 3 | TBA | 6 | Qualified as Europe 3 | Qualified as Europe 3 |
| 4 | TBA | 5 | Qualified as Europe 4 | Qualified as Europe 4 |
| 5 | TBA | 4 | Advances to FQT as Europe 5 | |
| 6 | TBA | 3 | ||
| 7 | TBA | 2 | ||
| 8 | TBA | 1 |
International broadcasters
edit| Country | Broadcaster[7] | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium
|
— | Rugby Europe (registration required) |
| Georgia
|
Rugby TV Imedi TV |
Georgia games shown live via Rugby TV and Imedi TV. Also Georgia games are streamed and free on Rugby TV Facebook page |
| Germany
|
— | Rugby Europe (registration required) |
| Netherlands
|
Ziggo | Selected games live on Ziggo Sport |
 Poland
|
TVP Sport | Poland's home games shown live |
| Portugal
|
Sport TV | Portugal games shown live |
| Romania
|
— | Rugby Europe (registration required) |
| Spain
|
Teledeporte | Spain games shown live via Teledeporte |
| Switzerland
|
TBA | |
| France
|
RugbyZone Archived 2022-02-01 at the Wayback Machine | All games available through streaming via RugbyZone Archived 2022-02-01 at the Wayback Machine |
| North America | FloRugby | All games available through streaming via FloSports |
| Rest of the World | Rugby Europe | All games available through streaming via Rugby Europe (registration required). Some games are streamed and free on Rugby Europe Youtube channel |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "EPCR announces venues for 2025 and 2026 Finals Weekends | European Professional Club Rugby". www.epcrugby.com. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ "2024 World Rugby Participants". September 2024.
- ^ a b c "New Format for Rugby Europe Championship". Rugby Europe. 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
- ^ "2025 Rugby Europe Championship Calendar Confirmed". 18 August 2024.
- ^ a b "2025 Rugby Europe Championship Standings".
- ^ "September 2024 Edition (2024-2025 season v1) RUGBY EUROPE INTERNATIONAL XV CHAMPIONSHIPS MEN & WOMEN 2024-2025 TOURNAMENT MANUAL" (PDF). Rugby Europe. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ "Where to Watch: Rugby Europe Championship 2022".