2020 Rugby League European Championship

Last updated
2020 (2020) European Championship  ()
Number of teams6
 < 2018
2023 > 

The 2020 European Championship was a planned international rugby league tournament that would have taken place in October and November 2020. Six teams were to have competed in the 2020 edition, with Italy and Spain joining the four teams that participated in 2018. The teams were split into two pools of three, where the winners would have contested a final and the bottom teams would have been relegated to the 2022 European Championship B. [1] The tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contents

Background

A restructured European Championship system was announced in January 2020, with the top tier to be contested by six teams across two pools. The draw was created by on 31 January 2020 at the Red Star Sport Society Media Centre in Belgrade by Stevan Stevanović and Jelena Stojiljković, the captains of Serbia's men's and women's rugby league teams, respectively. [1] France, Scotland, and Italy comprised one pool, and Wales, Ireland, and Spain the other. [2]

The tournament was cancelled in July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Postponement to 2021 was not possible due to the 2021 Rugby League World Cup – Men’s tournament. The 2022 European Championship was to expand to eight teams, with England and the winner of 2020 European Championship B (to be held in 2021) joining. [3] However, the World Cup was subsequently postponed to 2022 which will likely cause another schedule revision.

See also

Related Research Articles

The Rugby League European Championship is a rugby league football tournament for European national teams that was first held in 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby World Cup (women)</span> International rugby union for women

The Rugby World Cup is the women's rugby union world championship which is organised by World Rugby. The first Rugby World Cup for women was held in 1991, but it was not until the 1998 tournament that the tournament received official backing from the International Rugby Board ; by 2009, the IRB had retroactively recognized the 1991 and 1994 tournaments and their champions.

The European Championship B, is a rugby league football competition. The competition is organised by the Rugby League European Federation and is the second tier of the European Championship competition. It was first held in 2006 as the Central Europe Development Tri-Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EPCR Challenge Cup</span> Annual European rugby union competition

The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception in 1996 to 2014, it was known as the European Challenge Cup and governed by European Rugby Cup (ERC). Following disagreements in the structure of the tournament's format and division of revenue, the English and French leagues withdrew to form the EPCR, which organized the Challenge Cup and the Champions Cup since the 2014–15 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Rugby World Cup</span> Womens rugby union event in New Zealand

The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2021, but was postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2021 international cricket season took place from May 2021 to September 2021. 13 Tests, 56 One Day Internationals (ODIs), 45 [[Twenty23 International]]s (T20Is) were scheduled to be held in this season. The final of the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship took place in June at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, England, with New Zealand beating India by eight wickets. The 2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship started in August 2021, with India's tour of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship</span> International football competition

The 2021 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship was originally to be held as the 20th edition of the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, the annual international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the women's under-19 national teams of Europe. Belarus were originally to host the tournament between 21 July and 2 August 2021. A total of eight teams were originally to play in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2002 eligible to participate. On 23 February 2021, UEFA announced that the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was played as part of qualification process for the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. The sub regional tournaments were scheduled to take place in June and July 2021 in Finland and Belgium, with the regional final taking place in October 2021 in Spain. In April 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) granted full international status to Twenty20 men's matches played between member sides from 1 January 2019 onwards. Therefore, all the matches in the Regional Qualifiers were played as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports</span>

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the most significant disruption to the worldwide sporting calendar since World War II. Across the world and to varying degrees, sports events were cancelled or postponed. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were rescheduled to 2021. At the time, spectators had no games to watch and players no games to play. Only a few countries and territories, such as Hong Kong, Turkmenistan, Belarus, and Nicaragua, continued professional sporting matches as planned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on association football</span> Global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on association football

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to association football across the world, mirroring its impact across all sports. Across the world and to varying degrees, leagues and competitions have been cancelled or postponed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cricket</span> Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cricket

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to cricket around the world, mirroring its impact across all sports. Around the world and to varying degrees, leagues and competitions have been cancelled or postponed.

The 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup was the seventh season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (ECPR) for teams from the top six nations in European rugby. It was the 26th season of pan-European professional club rugby competition.

The 2020–21 European Rugby Challenge Cup preliminary stage is the first stage of the competition in what is the seventh season of the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The competition involves fourteen teams competing in a single league – with teams playing three opponents from another domestic competition home and away. The preliminary stage began on 11 December 2020 and was due to be completed on 23 January 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the sport of rugby league in both the northern and southern hemispheres with the two major league competitions suspended for periods and numerous other leagues and cup competitions cancelled or abandoned.

The 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 20th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The 2021 tournament was given a change of format from its traditional eight week round-robin format to a four-week format consisting of two pools of three teams with a final, inspired by the format of the Autumn Nations Cup, which replaced the 2020 Autumn Internationals. The tournament was held from 3 to 24 April 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Rugby World Cup qualifying</span>

The qualification process for the 2021 Rugby World Cup began on 9 August 2019 with 12 teams qualifying to the tournament which will be held in New Zealand. The 2021 Rugby World Cup was postponed by one year in March 2021 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2020 European Championship C was a planned international rugby league tournament that would have taken place in October and November 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on basketball</span> Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on basketball

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to basketball across the world, mirroring its impact across all sports. Across the world and to varying degrees, events and competitions have been cancelled or postponed with limited or no spectators, and other restrictions in 2020 and 2021. The National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended its 2019–20 season due to one player testing positive from COVID-19, and began to resume the season later in 2020.

The WXV is an upcoming women's international rugby union competition that will be held annually, scheduled to be launched in 2023. The competition will consist of three tiers, WXV 1, WXV 2, and WXV 3. Each tier will consist of six teams that will be divided into two pools and will run in a split pool format, where teams only face teams from the other pool.

The 2023 Rugby League European Championship will be the 34th edition of the Rugby League European Championship, and the inaugural edition of the promotion and relegation era of the tournament after the cancellation of the planned first edition in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 25 May 2023, the ERL announced that the tournament would be delayed due to France withdrawing as hosts of the 2025 Rugby League World Cup. The tournament was scheduled October and November 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 "Men's European Championship to expand in 2020". European Rugby League. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  2. "France and Turkey excited by men's Euro fixtures". European Rugby League. 16 February 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  3. "Rugby League European Federation confirms status of 2020 European Championships". European Rugby League. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.