The Germany women's national rugby union team are a national sporting side of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, representing them at

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

. They made their first

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

appearance at the 1998 tournament in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and made their last appearance at the 2002 Rugby World Cup in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. They regularly compete in the Rugby Europe Women's Championship.

History

The German women's national rugby union team was founded in 1989. Back then women's rugby was still part of the "Deutsche Rugby Jugend", the youth rugby organization in Germany. After only 2 training camps in Wiedenbrück and

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

a team was formed with players from BSV 92 Berlin,

DRC Hannover The DRC Hannover is a German rugby union :German rugby union clubs, club from Hannover, currently playing in the Rugby-Regionalliga. The club should not be confused with the ''DRC 1884 Hannover'', a rowing (sport), rowing club and a separate entit ...

, RK Heusenstamm, SC Neuenheim, TV Wiedenbrück and SV 08 Ricklingen. For their first international match the German women met

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1989 and lost only 0–8, and went on to qualify for the next two World Cups. However German national teams (fifteens and sevens) have suffered from limited financial support, and after the European Championship finals in April 2005 (where Germany finished fourth) the DRV officially disbanded the XVs national team for financial reasons. Though this was reversed a year later at the next General Assembly of the DRV, it was a set-back and Germany have struggled to keep up with their neighbours in this form of the game. Having played their last test match in 2010, Germany returned to test rugby in 2016 after a long six-year absence. In 2019 Germany withdrew from the European Championships due to financial difficulties.

Records

Rugby World Cup

Overall

''(Full internationals only)''

Players

Germany's 23-player squad for the 2024–25 Rugby Europe Women's Trophy.

References

External links

Deutsche Rugby Frauen
- Official Site

- Official 7s Site {{Rugby union in Germany European national women's rugby union teams Rugby union in Germany

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...