Sevens World Cup women’s qualifying process

The Sevens World Cup women’s qualifying format is well underway ahead of the 2022 tournament this September. There will be 16 nations at the main event, with representatives guaranteed from all six continental confederations.

Here is the lowdown on the battle to make it to Cape Town.

Who has already qualified?

There are 10 nations that have already booked their spot in Cape Town.

Automatic qualifiers: The four quarter-finalists from the 2018 World Cup qualified automatically. They were: New Zealand, France, Australia and USA. South Africa, as hosts, were also granted a spot.

Continental qualifiers: South America, Oceania and Asia have each completed their qualifying process.

Brazil and Colombia emerged from South America by virtue of finishing as the top two of the 2021 Sudamerica Rugby Women’s Sevens.

In Oceania, Fiji earned the remaining spot courtesy of finishing the highest at the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series out of the non-qualified teams from the continent.

Brazil and Australia have already qualified (Getty Images)

China and Japan emerged from Asia after finishing as the top two sides at the 2021 Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Series.

The remaining qualification battles

Europe: The 2022 Rugby Europe Women’s Sevens Championship in July will determine the final European spots, with the top four from the tournament qualifying. Russia won last year’s competition, but they were suspended from all international and cross-border rugby last February following the country’s invasion of Ukraine and will not participate in World Cup qualifying. England are perhaps the biggest name yet to secure a place in Cape Town, while 2018 World Cup quarter-finalists Spain and Ireland are also in the mix.

Africa: The 2022 Rugby Africa Sevens championship will decide which African nation will join South Africa at the World Cup. The tournament will be held in Tunisia from 29-30 April. Kenya, Tunisia and Madagascar are among the continent’s top sides.

North America: A qualifying event for the sole North American spot remaining will take place on 18-19 June. Canada, who have made it to all three women’s Sevens World Cups and were runners-up in 2013, will take some beating.

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