The 2008 European Sevens Championship was a
rugby sevens competition, with the final held in
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, Germany. It was the seventh edition of the European Sevens championship and also functioned as a qualifying tournament for the
2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens
The 2009 Rugby Sevens World Cup was the fifth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as the host venue for the tournament ahead of bids from four other countries. The f ...
. The event was organised by rugby's European governing body, the
FIRA – Association of European Rugby
Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, and administer the game of rugby in Europe under the authority of World Rugby (the sport's global governing body). However, it ...
(FIRA-AER).
Outcome
The finals tournament held in Hanover, Germany on 12 and 13 July 2008, as well as being the European Sevens Championship, functioned as a qualifying tournament for the world cup. England, France and Scotland had already qualified through their past performance. The five best nations out of the twelve participating ones qualified for the Dubai tournament. Teams finished in the following order:
Bid
On 16 June 2007, the FIRA congress in
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
decided to award the finals tournament to Hanover, beating bids from Russia, Greece and
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and Pars pro toto#Geography, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of Southern Europe, south and southeast Euro ...
in the process.
Tournament history
From 2002,
FIRA
Firá ( el, Φηρά, pronounced ) is the modern capital of the Greek Aegean island of Santorini (Thera). A traditional settlement,http://www.visitgreece.gr Greek National Tourism Organisation "Firá" derives its name from an alternative pron ...
, the governing body of European rugby, has been organising an annual European Sevens Championship tournament. A number of qualifying tournaments lead up to a finals tournament, which functions as the European championship and, in 2008, also as the qualifying stage for the Sevens World Cup.
The first European Championship was held in 2002 in
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
, Germany, and was won by Portugal, the team that won every championship since except 2007, when Russia won.
The next year, the tournament was again held in Heidelberg and in 2004,
Palma de Mallorca
Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...
, Spain was the host.
From 2005 to 2007, Moscow was the host of the tournament.
Hanover held the tournament for the first time in 2008 and will do so again in 2009.
Tournament
Stadium
The finals tournament was held at the
AWD-Arena
Niedersachsenstadion (, ) is a football stadium in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany, which is home to football club Hannover 96.
The original 86,000-capacity stadium was completed in 1954 and has since been rebuilt several times for various ...
in Hanover, home ground of the football club
Hannover 96
Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...
. The stadium holds 50.000 spectators, 43,000 of them on seats, the rest standing.
The tournament was seen by over 30,000 spectators, a good turn out in a country like Germany, where rugby is not a mainstream sport. After selling more than 35,000 tickets in advance, mostly within Germany, the organisers were forced to open up the upper tier of the stadium to meet demand.
Germans go sevens-crazy
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
, accessed: 26 January 2009
Qualifying
Twelve teams qualified through the seven qualifying tournaments, held at the following locations:
Source:
Group stage
The tournament was divided into a group and a finals stage. In the group stage, two groups of six teams were drawn. Within each group, each team played each other once. The top two teams went to the Cup stage of the tournament while the third and fourth placed team qualified for the Plate stage. Five and six went to the Bowl finals.
Group A
Group B
Finals
Three separate rounds of finals were held, Bowl, the lowest, Plate and Cup. The semi final winners of each group went on to the final while the losers played each other. All teams from the Cup stage were qualified for the next sevens world cup and also the Plate winner.
Bowl
Winner: Russia
Plate
Winner: Italy ''(qualified for the 2009 Sevens world cup)''
Cup
Winner: Portugal ''(all four teams qualified for the 2009 Sevens world cup)''
Top point scorers
Key: Con = conversions; Pen = penalties; Drop = drop goals
Teams
Belgium
Head coach: Neil Massinon
Manager: Thierry Massinon
Source:
Georgia
Head coach: Kakhaber Alania
Source:
Germany
Head coach: Lofty Stevenson
Source:
Ireland
Head coach: Jon Skurr
Source:
Italy
Head coach:
Source:
Poland
Head coach:
Source:
Portugal
Head coach: Tomaz Morais
Source:
Romania
Head coach:
Source:
Russia
Head coach: Claude Saurel Claude Saurel (born 17 April 1948) is a former French people, French rugby union footballer and current coach. He is a former head coach of the Russia national rugby union team, Russia national rugby team.
Saurel played his rugby for Béziers, his ...
Source:
Spain
Head coach: José Ignacio Inchausti
José Ignacio Inchausti Bravo (born 1 January 1973 in Madrid) is a Spanish former rugby union player and coach. He is nicknamed ''Tiki''. He played as a centre.
Playing career
He debuted for the Spain national rugby union team in a test match ag ...
Source:
Ukraine
Head coach: Michel Bishop
Source:
Wales
Head coach: Gareth Baber
Gareth Baber (born 23 May 1972) is a Welsh former rugby player and now a rugby union coach. He is best known for coaching and leading the Fiji sevens team to win their second gold medal in rugby sevens at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He coached Fij ...
Source:
References
External links
Portugal lead Euro charge to 2009 RWC Sevens
IRB website – Article on the 2009 Sevens world cup qualifying
Hannover sevens website
FIRA-AER official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sevens
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
International rugby union competitions hosted by Germany
European
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
2008–09 in European rugby union
2008–09 in German rugby union
Rugby union in Hanover