Rugby Europe

Rugby Europe

Established	10 June 1935; 89 years ago (1935-06-10) (as FIRA) 1999 (as FIRA–AER) June 2014
Type	Sports federation
Headquarters	Paris, France
Coordinates	48°52′46″N 2°19′41″E / 48.87944°N 2.32806°E / 48.87944; 2.32806
Membership	47 unions
President	Octavian Morariu
Website	rugbyeurope.eu

Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, and administer the game of rugby in Europe under the authority of World Rugby (the sport's global governing body). However, it is not responsible for the organisation of the Six Nations Championship or the competitions run by European Professional Club Rugby (the European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup).^[1]

The predecessor to Rugby Europe was the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur (FIRA), which was established in 1934 to administer rugby union in Europe outside the authority of the International Rugby Football Board (as World Rugby was then called), and came to spread outside the continent. FIRA agreed to come under the auspices of World Rugby in the 1990s, and appended 'Association Européenne de Rugby' to its name in a return to being a European body. In 2014 the organisation was renamed Rugby Europe as part of a re-branding.

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rugby Europe suspended Russia from international and European continental rugby union competition. In addition, the Rugby Union of Russia was suspended from Rugby Europe.^[2][3]

Rugby Europe has 47 member unions as of December 2021.^[4] Not all European member unions are members of World Rugby.^[5] Rugby Europe's members are listed below, with the year each union joined World Rugby shown in brackets.

Thirty-nine World Rugby members are part of Rugby Europe:

Six members of Rugby Europe are not affiliated with World Rugby:

Nine European nations are not currently affiliated with Rugby Europe or World Rugby:

Notes:

In 1931, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) was suspended from playing against the other IRFB nations, because the sport's authorities had suspected for many years that the (FFR) was allowing the abuse of the rules on amateurism. As a result, Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur (FIRA) was founded in 1934. It was designed to organise rugby union outside the authority of the International Rugby Football Board (as it was known at the time). The founder members were Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Catalonia, Romania, Holland and Germany.^[10] In 1941 the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco forcibly merged Catalonia's team into the Spanish rugby team. In the late 2000's the restored Catalan Federation unsuccessfully attemped to recover its international status, claiming the historical rights as a founder member.

In 1965, FIRA inaugurated the FIRA Nation's Cup, and in 1974 the FIRA Championship, later renamed the European Nations Cup (ENC). The ENC provided international competition for European countries outside the Five Nations. The ENC was played in three divisions, comprising most countries in Continental Europe. The ENC later expanded its horizons, taking in Morocco and Tunisia. The ENC first division competition was won most often by France, but Romania won it five times, and Italy once, in its last edition, in 1995–1997. France and Italy no longer play in the ENC, as both countries now play in the Six Nations Championship.

In the 1990s, FIRA recognised the IRB as the governing body of rugby union worldwide and after negotiations with the IRB, it agreed to integrate itself within the organisation. In 1999, it changed its name to "FIRA – Association of European Rugby" (FIRA–AER), to promote and rule over rugby union in the European area and to run the junior world championship. FIRA-AER organised both the under-19 and under-21 world championships until IRB folded them into the competitions now known as the World Rugby Under 20 Championship and World Rugby Under 20 Trophy in 2008.

In June 2014, during the annual convention of FIRA-AER in Split, it was decided to rename the organisation to Rugby Europe to provide it with a shorter, more recognisable name.^[11]

The highest level of rugby competition played among European countries is the Six Nations Championship, contested every year in February and March by the tier-1 European nations: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The tournament is the oldest international rugby tournament in the world, having begun in 1883, and has been known as the Six Nations Championship since 2000, when Italy joined; it had previously been known as the Home Nations and the Five Nations. There is no promotion or relegation, and since 2000, no country has entered or left the Six Nations. Rugby Europe is not responsible for the organisation of the Six Nations Championship, which is run by the national unions of its participating nations.^[1]

The next level of international rugby, played by tier-2 and tier-3 European countries, is the Rugby Europe International Championships. It is made up of five levels or divisions: Championship, Trophy, Conference 1, Conference 2 and Development. Each division consists of five, six, or eight teams, and is played on a round robin format for a one-year cycle, with promotion and relegation between levels and the end of the season. As of 2023,^[12] the top division Rugby Europe Championship is contested by eight countries – Belgium, Georgia, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Spain. Of these countries, all but two (Belgium and Poland) have played in a Rugby World Cup and are routinely ranked in the Top 30 in the world. Other countries that have participated in past editions include the Czech Republic and Ukraine.

The highest levels of European club competition played in Europe are the European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup. These tournaments are contested every year by clubs from the tier-1 European nations: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Rugby Europe is not responsible for the organisation of these competitions, which is run by the European Professional Club Rugby.^[1]

Some European clubs from tier-2 and tier-3 European nations participated in the European Shield, which made up the third-tier club competition below the now defunct Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup. This competition, which was organised solely by European Rugby Cup Ltd, ran from 2002 to 2005 and was primarily made up of tier-1 nations club teams that were knocked out in the first round of the European Challenge Cup, with the addition of one or two teams from tier-2 and tier-3 European nations (Spain, Portugal, and Romania) invited to make up the numbers.

From 2014 to 2019 clubs from tier-2 and tier-3 European countries competed in the European Rugby Continental Shield. This competition was a joint venture between Rugby Europe, European Professional Club Rugby, and the Federazione Italiana Rugby and it provided the winners of this tournament entry into the European Rugby Challenge Cup.

In 2021 Rugby Europe set up the Rugby Europe Super Cup which enabled clubs from tier-2 and tier-3 European countries to participate annually. Teams are divided into two conferences: western and eastern. Each team will play every conference rival home and away. The two best teams from each conference will advance to the semi-finals, where they will compete to play in the final. Currently there are eight clubs involved but this is expected to rise to sixteen by 2025.

Men's World Rugby Rankings (as of 2 January 2023)[14] Europe* World Rugby +/- National Team Points 1 1  Ireland 90.63 2 2  France 90.01 3 5  England 83.66 4 7  Scotland 81.55 5 9  Wales 78.09 6 12  Italy 75.95 7 13  Georgia 75.19 8 16  Spain 67.17 9 18  Portugal 65.97 10 20  Romania 64.79 11 25  Russia 58.06 12 26  Belgium 55.97 13 28   Switzerland 53.8 14 29  Netherlands 53.12 15 30  Poland 53.03 16 31  Germany 52.79 17 35  Czech Republic 50.26 18 36  Ukraine 49.61 19 40  Lithuania 48.09 20 41  Sweden 48.06 21 45 1  Malta 46.75 22 47 1  Croatia 46.67 23 57 1  Moldova 43.04 24 59  Bulgaria 42.4 25 61  Luxembourg 41.08 26 62  Israel 40.98 27 64  Latvia 40.73 28 66  Hungary 39.11 29 75  Denmark 36.1 30 77  Slovenia 35.69 31 78  Finland 35.56 32 80  Serbia 35.2 33 87  Austria 33.03 34 88  Andorra 32.85 35 89  Bosnia and Herzegovina 31.93 36 100  Norway 26.52 37 106  Monaco 17.17 38 107  Greece 16.55 *Local rankings based on World Rugby ranking points

Women's World Rugby Rankings (as of 2 January 2023)[15] Europe* World Rugby +/- National Team Points 1 1  England 94.29 2 3  France 89.68 3 5  Italy 78.7 4 8  Ireland 74.01 5 9  Wales 72.7 6 10  Scotland 68.71 7 11  Spain 68.47 8 14  Russia 61.1 9 17  Netherlands 58.27 10 19  Sweden 57.73 11 21  Germany 51.72 12 24  Belgium 45.78 13 30  Portugal 42 14 31  Czech Republic 40.86 15 32  Denmark 40.68 16 40  Romania 38.95 17 42  Norway 38.86 18 43  Finland 38.61 19 44  Bosnia and Herzegovina 38 20 50   Switzerland 35.46 21 56  Luxembourg 32.83 22 58  Serbia 31.79 *Local rankings based on World Rugby ranking points

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (January 2017)

The following table shows the professional rugby union competitions in various European countries.

League	Country	Tier	Began*	Teams	Games	Ref.
Top 14	France	1	1892	14	182	[16]
Premiership	England	1	1987	13	135	[17]
United Rugby Championship	Ireland (4) Wales (4) Scotland (2) Italy (2) South Africa (4)	1	2001	16	135	[18]
Rugby Pro D2	France	2	2000	16	243
Championship	England	2	1987	12	132	[19]

Notes:

• Average attendances vary significantly by country within the Pro14—Ireland (12,347), Wales (8,136), Scotland (4,570), and Italy (2,744).
• The English Premiership and French Top 14 both turned professional in 1996. Two Italian teams joined the Celtic League (since renamed Pro12) in 2010.
• England's second-level Championship became fully professional in 2009 after having been semi-professional.

• Rugby Europe Women's Sevens
• Rugby Europe Sevens - European Sevens Championship
• Rugby Europe International Championships
• European Nations Cup
• List of women's international rugby union test matches
• Mid-year rugby union internationals
• World Rugby Rankings

• rugbyeurope.eu