Rugby Europe Super Cup

Rugby Europe Super Cup
Current season or competition:
2025–26 Rugby Europe Super Cup
SportRugby Union
Instituted2021 (2021)
Number of teams6
Country Belgium
Czech Republic
 Netherlands
 Portugal
 Romania
 Spain
HoldersSpain Castilla y León Iberians (1th title) (2025–26)
Most titlesGeorgia (country) Black Lion (4)
Websiterugbyeurope.eu/super-cup

The Rugby Europe Super Cup is an annual men's rugby union club tournament organised by the continental governing body, Rugby Europe. Featuring clubs outside the traditional Six Nations strongholds of the sport, it effectively forms a third tier of European club rugby beneath the EPCR-organised European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup.[1] The first Super Cup competition took place in 2021–22.

Format

The tournament was announced as an annual event for emerging nations in Europe. Professional rugby clubs and franchise teams can take part in it. Teams are divided into two conferences: western and eastern. Each team plays every conference rival home and away. The two best teams from each conference advance to the semi-finals, where they play for a ticket to the final. In 2023 for the first time the Czech Rugby Union was involved in the European club competition with Bohemia Rugby Warriors taking part.[2]

Teams

Teams Joined
Czech Republic Bohemia Rugby Warriors 2023
Belgium Brussels Devils 2021–22
Spain Castilla y León Iberians 2021–22
Netherlands Delta 2021–22
Portugal Lusitanos XV 2021–22
Romania Romanian Wolves 2022

Former Teams

The first competition included two Russian teams who were expelled following the invasion of Ukraine, to be replaced with teams from Romania and Georgia in the second season.

In April 2025 Black Lion revealed that they were in talks to join the United Rugby Championship and they decided to withdraw from the Rugby Europe Super Cup.

Teams Seasons
Georgia (country) Batumi RC 2022
Georgia (country) Black Lion 2021–22, 2022, 2023, 2024
Russia Lokomotiv Penza 2021–22
Israel Tel Aviv Heat 2021–22, 2022, 2023
Russia Yenisey-STM 2021–22

The goal of the tournament is to bridge the development gap between European countries and attract new sponsors in new markets. All 27 matches are filmed and widely broadcast on TV and digital platforms.

The plan was to expand the Super Cup to include 12 teams by 2023 and 16 teams by 2025.[3]

Finals

2021–23

Year Final Third place match
Host Winner Score Runner-up Host 3rd place Score 4th place
2021–22 Lisbon Georgia (country) Black Lion 17–14 Portugal Lusitanos XV N/a
2022 Tbilisi Georgia (country) Black Lion 29–17 Israel Tel Aviv Heat
2023 Tbilisi Georgia (country) Black Lion 27–17 Israel Tel Aviv Heat Amsterdam Romania Romanian Wolves 41–17 Spain Castilla y León Iberians

2024

Year Pool A Pool B
Winner Runner-up 3rd place Winner
2024 Georgia (country) Black Lion Portugal Lusitanos XV Spain Castilla y León Iberians Romania Romanian Wolves

2025-present

Year Final Third place match
Host Winner Score Runner-up Host 3rd place Score 4th place
2025–26 Amsterdam Spain Castilla y León Iberians 42–17 Portugal Lusitanos XV Amsterdam Netherlands Delta 36–31 Belgium Brussels Devils

Performances by team

Team Winners Runner-up 3rd place 4th place
Georgia (country) Black Lion 4 (2021–22, 2022, 2023, 2024) N/a N/a N/a
Spain Castilla y León Iberians 1 (2025–26) N/a 3 (2021–22, 2022, 2024) 1 (2023)
Portugal Lusitanos XV N/a 3 (2021–22, 2024, 2025–26) 1 (2022) N/a
Israel Tel Aviv Heat N/a 2 (2022, 2023) 1 (2021–22) N/a
Romania Romanian Wolves N/a N/a 1 (2023) 1 (2024)
Netherlands The Delta N/a N/a 1 (2025–26) N/a
Belgium Brussels Devils N/a N/a N/a 1 (2025–26)
Czech Republic Bohemia Rugby Warriors N/a N/a N/a N/a
Georgia (country) Batumi RC N/a N/a N/a N/a
Russia Lokomotiv Penza[a] N/a N/a N/a N/a
Russia Yenisey-STM[a] N/a N/a N/a N/a
a Disqualified due to Russian invasion of Ukraine

Number of participating clubs by country

The following is a list of clubs that have played or will be playing in the Rugby Europe Super Cup group stage.

Nation No. Clubs Years
Georgia (country) Georgia (2) 4 Black Lion 2021–22, 2022, 2023, 2024
1 RC Batumi 2022
Russia Russia (2) 1 Lokomotiv Penza 2021–22
1 Yenisey-STM 2021–22
Belgium Belgium (1) 5 Brussels Devils 2021–22, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025–26
Netherlands Netherlands (1) 5 Delta 2021–22, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025–26
Portugal Portugal (1) 5 Lusitanos 2021–22, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025–26
Spain Spain (1) 5 Castilla y León Iberians 2021–22, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025–26
Israel Israel (1) 3 Tel Aviv Heat 2021–22, 2022, 2023
Romania Romania (1) 4 Romanian Wolves 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025–26
Czech Republic Czech Republic (1) 3 Bohemia Rugby Warriors 2023, 2024, 2025–26

References

  1. ^ "Rugby Europe launch The Super Cup". Rugby Europe. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
  2. ^ "Rugby Europe has confirmed the details of the third season of the Rugby Europe Super Cup, its club competition for the emerging rugby unions in Europe". rugbyeurope.eu. 2023-07-06. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  3. ^ "A new dawn for Israeli rugby". Jerusalem Post. 2021-07-18. Retrieved 2021-07-27.

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