Eleven unions from all over the planet declare interest in 2022 event
Qatar and Cayman Islands among unions keen to host Sevens World Cup
Eleven unions have formally expressed their interest in hosting Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2022.
Argentina, Cayman Islands, France, Germany, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Qatar, Scotland, South Africa and Tunisia all declared their interest to the governing body by the end of March.
Of those unions, only Argentina, France, Scotland and South Africa have teams on either of the men’s or women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, although Jamaica’s men also competed at the Sevens World Cup in San Francisco last summer.
Related: World Rugby keen to take sevens to new territories
Scotland and Argentina have both hosted the Sevens World Cup in the past, while France will host the 15s World Cup in 2023 – their second, after hosting the showcase in 2007. Paris will also host the Olympic Games, in which sevens is an event, in 2024. Despite having so much on the horizon, the FFR have pushed to host this event too.
Just as arresting is the interest tabled by Qatar. The Middle Eastern state are already hosting the FIFA World Cup from 21 November to 18 December 2022, and have come under intense scrutiny over issue of workers’ rights and safety and the inherent logistical difficulties of staging such an event there.
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The Cayman Islands, Jamaica and Malaysia stand out as interesting potential sites, while the growth of rugby in India has been a source of pride for World Rugby in the past.
Related: Ten cool things from the Hong Kong Sevens
Meanwhile it is understood that the German market is another one that World Rugby are keen to explore further, and the Munich-based Oktoberfest 7s (21 and 22 September) could be seen as a testing ground ahead of 29 October, when the World Rugby Council will select the hosts for the next instalment of the Sevens World Cup.
Rival bids: Germany versus the Cayman Islands in 2016 (Getty Images)
That will be played during the September and October 2022 window set out according to the international calendar – within which will sit the men’s and women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and the Commonwealth Games that will take place in July 2022.
The World Cup will again comprise 24 men’s and 16 women’s teams and will be played over three days in one venue.
The unions have been issued with formal bid application documents and now have until 16 July 2019 to submit their responses. After a period of deliberation, the Council will select the host in late October.