South Africa to host Sevens Rugby World Cup in 2022

World Rugby and hosts South Africa Rugby today confirmed Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 that is set to be held in Cape Town will take place from 9-11 September, 2022.

The 2022 showpiece, the eighth edition of the tournament, will be the very first time that the competition will be held in the African continent. It will also be the first senior world cup that South Africa has hosted since 1995.

World Rugby Vice-Chairman Bernard Laporte expressed his delight at the chance of having the tournament make its inaugural appearance on the continent.

“I look forward to hosting Rugby World Cup Sevens on the African continent for the first time. This event will bring a wind of passion and youth to our sport. I am convinced of its attractiveness, especially with new audiences," he is quoted on the world rugby website.

Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 will be contested by fourty national sides - 24 men’s and 16 women’s teams. Already, thirteen sides have already booked their place in the competition through automatic qualification.

The top eight men’s teams and top four women’s teams from RWC Sevens 2018 in San Francisco, USA, have already secured automatic qualification for the tournament in 2022 while South Africa women will join in as the host nation.

The qualified teams for the men’s event are defending champions New Zealand, England, the Blitzboks, Fiji, Argentina, USA, France, and Scotland.

Amongst the women’s teams, the Springbok Women’s Sevens side will join defending champions New Zealand, France, Australia and USA in Cape Town.

Teams that have not qualified automatically will do so via their respective regional tournaments held in Europe, Oceania, Asia, North America, South America, and Africa with 16 slots up for grabs for the men and 11 spaces for the women.

Africa has four slots available for the non-qualified team. Three given to men while the remaining slot given to the ladies.

The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series will now no longer form part of the qualification pathway for Rugby World Cup Sevens. Regional qualification is expected to start in August of this year with further details to be announced at a later stage.

The tournament is expected to build on the massively successful 2018 edition hosted at AT&T Park in San Francisco, which attracted record attendance for a rugby event in the USA with a total attendance of more than 100,000 fans.