Rugby Europe Men’s Championship 2026 - fixtures confirmed
Rugby Europe has confirmed the fixtures of Rugby Europe Championship 2026, which will take place in February and March 2026, throughout a six-week window, and will continue with the same fomat as last season with an initial round robin phase before the semi finals and finals.
Calendar confirmed Madrid to host Finals Day
The Men's Rugby European Championship will return in February and March 2026, following an exciting 2025 season that saw Georgia emerge victorious after a 46-28 victory over Spain in the final in Tbilisi. Georgia proved to be an unstoppable force throughout the tournament. In their first season at championship level, Switzerland put in promising performances – securing a memorable away win in Heidelberg, where they defeated Germany 20-17 thanks to a last-minute drop goal by Jules Porcher – and gained valuable experience against Europe's best teams. Switzerland will start next year's competition in 8th place.
Rugby Europe has confirmed the fixtures of Rugby Europe Championship 2026, which will take place in February and March 2026, throughout a six-week window (instead of seven last years), and will continue with the same fomat as last season with an initial round robin phase before the semi finals and finals.
After the centerally organized finals in Paris two years ago, the Finals Day will this time make it’s way to Madrid on Sunday March 15th , in conjunction with Real Federación Española de Rugby, with all games played on the same day. Finals details will be communicated in due course with tickets going on public sale in December.
After a successful 2025 edition, which saw four team qualify for the World Rugby organized Nations Cup 2026 and Rugby World Cup 2027, with Georgia, Spain, Romania and Portugal taking the final spots.
The opening round will see a return to Belgium for Portugal who will be looking to avenge their defeat on a memorable evening for the Mons crowd in 2024.
Belgium still have the opportunity to make it five Rugby Europe Championship teams in Australia as they take part in the Final Qualification Tournament in Dubai from 8-18 of November.
The two pools are composed of the same nations as last season.
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Switzerland's fixtures will be as follows:
| Pool | Round | Home | Away | Day | Date | KO Local | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1 | SWITZERLAND | GEORGIA | Sun | 2026-02-08 | 13:00 | Yverdon | Stade Municipal |
| A | 1 | SPAIN | SWITZERLAND | Sat | 2026-02-14 | 20:00 | Palencia | Estadio Nueva Balastera |
| A | 1 | SWITZERLAND | NETHERLANDS | Sun | 2026-02-22 | 13:00 | Yverdon | Stade Municipal |
The semi-finals will take place on 7-8 March on the soil of the teams finishing first and third of each pool.
There is still plenty on the line in the 2026 edition, with Spain pushing Georgia last season and at the other end of the table it will be confirmed which team be relegated to Trophy division, based on the the combined results of 2025 and 2026 tournaments.
Currently in the Trophy division there is a fierce battle to get promotion to the next Rugby Europe Championship as the teams complete their two-year cycle, with Poland and Sweden vying for top-spot.
All games will be live-streamed on rugbyeurope.tv platform. The list of other TV broadcasters will be announced in due course.