Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

is a growing sport. They are currently unranked in the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international ru ...

's world rankings, which ranks only the top ninety-five countries. The governing body for Azerbaijan is ''Azerbaycan Reqbi Federasiyasl'' (Azerbaijan Rugby Federation).

Governing body

The Azerbaijani Rugby Federation founded in 2004 and became affiliated to the

in 2005.

History

Soviet period

Rugby union was played in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

as early as in 1908, and in 1936 the first Soviet Championship took place. In 1949, rugby union was forbidden in the USSR during the "fight against the cosmopolitanism". The competitions were resumed in 1957, and the Soviet Championship in 1966. In 1975 the Soviet national team played their first match. Azerbaijan had its own rugby team in the USSR, but it was not treated as a proper national side.

Post independence

Rugby union in Azerbaijan has begun to grow in recent years, as they competed in the 2006 European Nations Cup. They played two matches; one on 29 April 2006 against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

at Baku, and one on 14 May 2006 against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

Zenica Zenica ( ; ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. The city is k ...

. They lost to Bosnia by a score of 28-7 and also to Luxembourg by a score of 11-3. Azerbaijan competed in the 2008 ENC Cup.

References

External links

Official website for the Azerbaycan Reqbi Federasiyasl (in English)

Сайт Федерации Регби Азербайджана

Официальный сайт клуба "Baku Exiles Rugby Club"
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