2025 Rugby Europe Championship

Last updated

2025 Rugby Europe Championship
Date31 January – 16 March 2025
Countries
Tournament statistics
2024 (Previous)(Next) 2026

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]

Contents

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. [4] The top two sides from each pool will qualify for the Rugby World Cup, with the final & bronze final acting as seeding matches to seed the team Europe 1–4. The Ranking Finals will then act as the play-off to determine Europe 5, who will advance to the final qualification tournament.

Participants

NationStadiumHead coachCaptain
Home stadiumCapacityLocation
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium Stade Charles Tondreau 8,000 Mons Flag of France.svg Laurent DossatJens Torfs
Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia Avchala Stadium3,500 Tbilisi Flag of England.svg Richard Cockerill Vasil Lobzhanidze
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Auestadion 18,737 Kassel Flag of Germany.svg Mark Kuhlmann Jörn Schröder
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands NRCA Stadium 7,000 Amsterdam Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Lyn Jones Hugo Langelaan
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal Estádio do Restelo
Estádio Nacional
19,856
37,593
Lisbon Flag of New Zealand.svg Simon Mannix Tomás Appleton
Flag of Romania.svg  Romania Stadionul Arcul de Triumf
Botoșani Municipal Stadium
8,207
7,782
Bucharest
Botoșani
Flag of France.svg David Gérard Ovidiu Cojocaru
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Estadio Nacional Complutense 12,400 Madrid Flag of Argentina.svg Pablo Bouza Jon Zabala
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland Stade Municipal Yverdon 6,600 Yverdon-les-Bains Flag of France.svg Olivier NierCyril Lin

World Cup qualification

Nation Rank Began playQualifying status
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 271 February 2025
Flag of England.svg  England 4N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup
Flag of France.svg  France 3N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup
Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia 121 February 2025
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 3231 January 2025
IRFU flag.svg  Ireland 7N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 15N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 262 February 2025
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 151 February 2025
Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 2031 January 2025
Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland 8N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 182 February 2025
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland 281 February 2025
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Wales 5N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup

Tables and fixtures

Pool A

Advances to the Grand Finals Semi-Finals
Advances to the Ranking Finals Semi-Finals
Pos.TeamGamesPointsTriesTBPLBPTable
points
PlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainstDiffForAgainstDiff
1Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia 0000000000000
2Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 0000000000000
3Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 0000000000000
4Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland 0000000000000
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

1 February 2025
16:00 GET (UTC+4)
Georgia  Flag of Georgia.svgvFlag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland
Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi
Referee: TBA

2 February 2025
12:45 CET (UTC+1)
Spain  Flag of Spain.svgvFlag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
Estadio Nacional Complutense, Madrid
Referee: TBA

Week 2

8 February 2025
15:00 GET (UTC+4)
Georgia  Flag of Georgia.svgvFlag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi
Referee: TBA

9 February 2025
14:00 CET (UTC+1)
Switzerland  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svgvFlag of Spain.svg  Spain
Stade Municipal, Yverdon-les-Bains
Referee: TBA

Week 3

15 February 2025
13:00 CET (UTC+1)
Netherlands  Flag of the Netherlands.svgvFlag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland
NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam
Referee: TBA

16 February 2025
12:45 CET (UTC+1)
Spain  Flag of Spain.svgvFlag of Georgia.svg  Georgia
Estadio Nacional Complutense, Madrid
Referee: TBA

Pool B

Advances to the Grand Finals Semi-Finals
Advances to the Ranking Finals Semi-Finals
Pos.TeamGamesPointsTriesTBPLBPTable
points
PlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainstDiffForAgainstDiff
1Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 0000000000000
2Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 0000000000000
3Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 0000000000000
4Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 0000000000000
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

31 January 2025
18:00 EET (UTC+2)
Romania  Flag of Romania.svgvFlag of Germany.svg  Germany
Stadionul Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest
Referee: TBA

1 February 2025
19:30 WET (UTC+0)
Portugal  Flag of Portugal.svgvFlag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium
Estádio do Restelo, Lisbon
Referee: TBA

Week 2

8 February 2025
20:00 CET (UTC+1)
Belgium  Flag of Belgium (civil).svgvFlag of Romania.svg  Romania
Stade Charles Tondreau, Mons
Referee: TBA

9 February 2025
17:15 WET (UTC+0)
Portugal  Flag of Portugal.svgvFlag of Germany.svg  Germany
Estádio do Restelo, Lisbon
Referee: TBA

Week 3

15 February 2025
17:00 EET (UTC+2)
Romania  Flag of Romania.svgvFlag of Portugal.svg  Portugal
Botoșani Municipal Stadium, Botoșani
Referee: TBA

16 February 2025
15:30 CET (UTC+1)
Germany  Flag of Germany.svgvFlag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium
Auestadion, Kassel
Referee: TBA

Grand Finals

 
Semi-finalsEurope 1/2 playoff
 
      
 
 
 
 
TBD
 
 
 
TBD
 
TBD
 
 
 
TBD
 
TBD
 
 
TBD
 
Europe 3/4 playoff
 
 
 
 
 
TBD
 
 
TBD

Semi-finals

1–2 March 2025
TBA
TBAvTBA
TBA
Referee: TBA

1–2 March 2025
TBA
TBAvTBA
TBA
Referee: TBA

Bronze Final

15-16 March
TBA
TBAvTBA
TBA
Referee: TBA

Final

15-16 March
TBA
TBAvTBA
TBA
Referee: TBA

Ranking Finals

 
Semi-finalsEurope 5 playoff
 
      
 
 
 
 
TBD
 
 
 
TBD
 
TBD
 
 
 
TBD
 
TBD
 
 
TBD
 
Seventh-place final
 
 
 
 
 
TBD
 
 
TBD

Semi-finals

1–2 March 2025
TBA
TBAvTBA
TBA
Referee: TBA

1–2 March 2025
TBA
TBAvTBA
TBA
Referee: TBA

Seventh-place final

15-16 March
TBA
TBAvTBA
TBA
Referee: TBA

Fifth-place final

15-16 March
TBA
TBAvTBA
TBA
Referee: TBA

Final standings

Pos.TeamPoints 2027 RWC qualification WRNC Division 2 qualification
1TBA10Qualified as Europe 1Qualified as Europe 1
2TBA8Qualified as Europe 2Qualified as Europe 2
3TBA6Qualified as Europe 3Qualified as Europe 3
4TBA5Qualified as Europe 4Qualified as Europe 4
5TBA4Advances to FQT as Europe 5
6TBA3
7TBA2
8TBA1

International broadcasters

CountryBroadcaster [7] Summary
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium Rugby Europe (registration required)
Flag of Georgia.svg  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
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Rugby Europe (registration required)
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands Ziggo Selected games live on Ziggo Sport
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland TVP Sport Poland's home games shown live
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal Sport TV Portugal games shown live
Flag of Romania.svg  Romania Rugby Europe (registration required)
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Teledeporte Spain games shown live via Teledeporte
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland TBA
Flag of France.svg  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

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References

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