World Rugby announces HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 schedule

The International Rugby governing body; World Rugby, has revealed details of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024, with three rounds set to take place over three continents between January and May.

The top four teams will qualify for the high-stakes promotion and relegation competition at the Grand Final in Madrid, with a chance to qualify for the HSBC 7s in 2025.

The top four placed men’s and women’s World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 teams, based on cumulative series points at the conclusion of the third round, will secure their opportunity to compete in the new high-stakes promotion and relegation play-off competition at the SVNS Grand Final in Madrid on 31 May – 2 June 2024, against the teams ranked ninth to 12th from HSBC SVNS 2024.

Four successful nations from this Grand Final play-off will secure their place in HSBC SVNS 2025, while the other four teams will compete in their regional qualification tournaments to earn the right to compete in the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025.

HSBC has been confirmed as the title partner of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger, continuing 12 years of incredible support for rugby sevens, during which time the sport has experienced huge global growth and become a core sport on the Olympic Games program.

The Sevens Challenger was introduced in February 2020 to boost the development of rugby sevens globally and provide a clear promotion pathway to reach the top level of global rugby sevens.

The tournaments replicate the Olympic Games competition format, with the 12 teams drawn into three pools of four.

The top two from each and the best third-placed finishers will qualify for the knockout stages with quarter-finals and semifinals leading to the third-place and gold medal matches.

Japan were the inaugural men’s champions after topping the cumulative rankings from the two rounds hosted in Chile and Uruguay in 2020.

The first women’s competition was scheduled to take place in Stellenbosch in March 2020 but had to be canceled due to the onset of the global pandemic.

Following a one-year absence the Sevens Challenger returned in August 2022 with a standalone combined event hosted in Santiago, Chile, which saw Uruguay men and Japanese women take the titles and secure promotion to the Series.

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Stellenbosch, South Africa hosted two combined events in 2023 with South Africa women earning their spot at HSBC SVNS 2024 while Tonga men’s victory secured their spot at the World Rugby Sevens Play-off in London last year.

The 2024 edition of the competition kicks off with combined events at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai on 12-14 January, followed by Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo, Uruguay on 8-10 March, before standalone women’s and men’s events at Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium in Krakow, Poland and Dantestadion in Munich, Germany respectively on 18-19 May.

All World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 events will include the 12 men’s and 12 women’s nations from around the world who have qualified through regional competitions, and the pool draw is expected to take place in Dubai during the opening round of HSBC SVNS 2024 in December 2023.

The teams that have qualified for the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 through their regional competitions are Portugal, Georgia, and Germany men and Poland, Belgium, and Czechia women from Rugby Europe, Uruguay and Chile men and Argentina and Paraguay women from Sudamerica Rugby, Kenya, and Uganda men and women from Rugby Africa and Mexico men and women from Rugby Americas North.

From Asia, the qualified teams are Japan and Hong Kong China men, and China, Hong Kong China, and Thailand women.

The final teams to qualify were from Oceania which saw Papua New Guinea men and women and Tonga men book their places in the competition.

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The team of Match Officials has also been confirmed with 20 individuals from 14 countries selected to oversee the action across the three rounds.

The official match team includes 11 women and 9 men with a blend of experience and debutants who have progressed through regional High-Performance Academies and Olympic qualification tournaments to be selected for the global stage.

Women’s match officials Holly Wood, Sunny Lee, Precious Pazani, Ella Goldsmith, and Zoe Naude were involved in WXV 2023, while Peter Martin and Morgan White took charge of the gold medal final matches for the first and second rounds of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series 2023 men’s events respectively.