FIRA Women's European Championship

FIRA Women's European Championship
Sport Rugby union
Founded 1988
No. of teams 19
Country  Belgium
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 England
 Finland
 France
 Germany
 Ireland
 Italy
 Kazakhstan
 Luxembourg
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Romania
 Russia
 Scotland
 Serbia
 Sweden
 Spain
 Wales
Most recent
champion(s)
 England

In rugby union, the Women's European Championship (or - as it is also known - the European Nations Cup and the European Trophy) is an international competition contested between women's national teams who are members of Rugby Europe (known from 1999 to 2014 as FIRA - Association of European Rugby, and FIRA before that). The competition has its origins in a four nation "European Cup" held in 1988 but did not become an official FIRA competition until 1995. The competition has grown significantly and is some years attracts sufficient entrants for it to be divided into two "Pools" (A and B) with the eight highest ranked entrants in any year (based on Rugby Europe rankings) in Pool A.

Since 2000 only the winner of the tournament held in between the World Cups (every four years, as highlighted) is officially recognised "European Champions", although teams winning tournaments in other years are often unofficially also described as "European Champions". This can cause some confusion, not least because the structure of the four-yearly tournament is invariably identical to the annual event. To make identification easier the competitions in the four yearly cycle are highlighted.

The only major difference between the "official" European Championships and other tournaments is that in the latter, between 2001 and 2007, England and France tended not to send their full strength national squads to the competition - though until 2007 they still played as "England" or "France". This has resulted in some confusion about the status of games played by these nations - England do not consider their games to be full internationals (or "tests")[1] and do not award caps, whereas while France also do not give caps to their players in such matches, they do recognise the games as tests matches.[2] FIRA and all other competing nations consider all the games to be "tests".[3]

The 2009 tournament acted as Europe's qualification tournament for the World Cup (all entrants sending full strength squads), after which the test match status problem was finally resolved. From 2010 onwards it was announced [4] that the non-Championship tournaments would be known as the "European Trophy" and any Six Nations entrants would officially be "A" sides (though in 2010 Italy, as they had not qualified for the 2010 World Cup, entered their full strength squad).

Championship and "Pool A" tournaments

Year Host Final Third place match
Winner Score Runner-up 3rd place Score 4th place
1988[5]
Details
France
France
France
France
8 - 6 United Kingdom
Great Britain
Netherlands
Netherlands
10-6 Italy
Italy
1995
Details
Italy
Italy
Spain
Spain
22 - 6 France
France
Italy
Italy
23 - 19 Netherlands
Netherlands
1996
Details
Spain
Spain
France
France
15 - 10 Spain
Spain
Italy
Italy
11 - 6 Netherlands
Netherlands
1997
Details
France
France
England
England
24 - 8 Scotland
Scotland
Spain
Spain
25 - 8 France
France
1998
No tournament due to the 1998 World Cup No tournament due to the 1998 World Cup
1999
Details
Italy
Italy
France
France
13 - 5 Spain
Spain
Scotland
Scotland
15 - 13 England
England
2000
Details
Spain
Spain
France
France
31 - 0 Spain
Spain
England
England
40 - 20 Scotland
Scotland
2001
Details
France
France
Scotland
Scotland
15 - 3 Spain
Spain
England
England
34 - 23 France
France
2002
Details
Italy
Italy
Italy
Italy
35 - 24 Sweden
Sweden
Germany
Germany
12 - 10 Netherlands
Netherlands
2003
Details
Sweden
Sweden
Spain
Spain
16 - 10 France
France
Sweden
Sweden
15 - 10 Italy
Italy
2004
Details
France
France
France
France
8 - 6 England
England
Scotland
Scotland
11 - 10 Wales
Wales
2005
Details
Germany
Germany
Italy
Italy
22 - 3 Netherlands
Netherlands
Sweden
Sweden
17 - 5 Germany
Germany
2006
Details
Italy
Italy
Italy
Italy
28 - 7 Netherlands
Netherlands
Russia
Russia
- Sweden
Sweden
2007
Details
Spain
Spain
England
England
27 - 17 France
France
Spain
Spain
37 - 0 Netherlands
Netherlands
2008
Details
Netherlands
Netherlands
England
England
12 - 6 Wales
Wales
Ireland
Ireland
12 - 12
(try count)
France
France
2009
Details
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
Joint
winners
Scotland
Scotland
Netherlands
Netherlands
Joint
third
Spain
Spain
2010
Details
France
France
Spain
Spain
31-13 Italy
Italy
Netherlands
Netherlands
47-19 Sweden
Sweden
2011
Details
Spain
Spain
England
England A
5-3 Spain
Spain
France
France A
17-7 Italy
Italy A
2012
Details
Italy
Italy
England
England
France
France
Italy
Italy
Spain
Spain

Performance of nations

All tournaments

  1.  France - 5 titles, 4 runners-up, 1 third, 3 fourths
  2.  England - 5 titles, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 1 fourth
  3.  Spain - 3 titles, 5 runners-up, 3 thirds, 1 fourth
  4.  Italy - 3 titles, 1 runner-up, 3 thirds, 3 fourth
  5.  Scotland - 2 titles, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 1 fourth
  6.  Sweden - 1 title, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 2 fourth
  7.  Netherlands - 2 runners-up, 3 third, 4 fourths
  8.  Wales - 1 runner-up, 1 fourth
  9.  Great Britain - 1 runner-up
  10.  Germany - 1 third, 1 fourth
  11.  Russia - 1 third
  12.  Ireland - 1 third

Official FIRA tournaments

  1.  France - 4 titles, 3 runners-up, 1 third, 3 fourths
  2.  England - 4 titles, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 1 fourth
  3.  Spain - 3 titles, 5 runners-up, 3 thirds
  4.  Italy - 3 titles, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 2 fourth
  5.  Scotland - 2 titles, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 1 fourth
  6.  Sweden - 1 title, 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 2 fourth
  7.  Netherlands - 2 runners-up, 2 third, 4 fourths
  8.  Wales - 1 runner-up, 1 fourth
  9.  Germany - 1 third, 1 fourth
  10.  Russia - 1 third
  11.  Ireland - 1 third

"European Championships"

  1.  France - 5 titles, 1 runner-up, 2 fourths
  2.  England - 2 titles, 1 runner-up, 1 third, 1 fourth
  3.  Spain - 1 title, 3 runners-up, 1 third
  4.  Scotland - 1 runner-up, 2 thirds, 1 fourth
  5.  Wales - 1 runner-up, 1 fourth
  6.  Great Britain - 1 runner-up
  7.  Italy - 2 thirds
  8.  Netherlands - 1 third, 2 fourths
  9.  Ireland - 1 third

"Pool B" tournaments

Year Host Final Third place match
Winner Score Runner-up 3rd place Score 4th place
2000
Details
Spain
Spain

French Flanders
Pool Netherlands
Netherlands
Germany
Germany
2001
Details
France
France
Sweden
Sweden
Pool Netherlands
Netherlands
Germany
Germany
Pool Belgium
Belgium
2003
Details
Netherlands
Netherlands
Netherlands
Netherlands
19 - 12 Germany
Germany
Norway
Norway
10 - 10
(penalties)
Denmark
Denmark
2004
Details
France
France
Netherlands
Netherlands
Pool Germany
Germany
Norway
Norway
Pool Denmark
Denmark
2005
Details
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Russia
Russia
Pool Norway
Norway
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
2007
Details
Belgium
Belgium
France
French Universities
13 - 7 Belgium
Belgium
Germany
Germany
15 - 0 Romania
Romania
2008
Details
Netherlands
Netherlands
Russia
Russia
31 - 14 France
French Defence
Germany
Germany
19 - 15 Belgium
Belgium
2012
Details
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
10 - 3 Netherlands
Netherlands
Russia
Russia
45 - 17 Finland
Finland

Performance of nations

  1.  Netherlands - 2 titles, 3 runners-up
  2.  Russia - 2 titles, 1 third
  3.  Sweden - 2 titles
  4. French Flanders - 1 title
  5. France French Universities - 1 title
  6.  Germany - 2 runners-up, 4 thirds
  7.  Belgium - 1 runner-up, 2 fourths
  8.  Norway - 1 runner-up, 2 thirds
  9. France French Defence - 1 runner-up
  10.  Bosnia and Herzegovina - 1 third
  11.  Belgium - 2 fourths
  12.  Finland - 1 fourth
  13.  Romania - 1 fourth

See also

References

  1. See statistical data on the the French RFU website
  2. As detailed in reports on the various national websites
  3. See [2010 Women's European Trophy] for details
  4. This tournament was not run by FIRA

External links

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