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Final two destinations on HSBC SVNS Series 2025 revealed
By Finn Morton
World Rugby announced on Monday that Los Angeles’ Dignity Health Sports Park will host the 2025 SVNS World Championship. The HSBC SVNS Series will also return to Singapore in April, bringing the total number of events in the 2024/25 season to seven.
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Following the record-breaking success of men’s and women’s rugby sevens at the Paris Olympics earlier this year, the world’s best will return to top-flight competition on the prestigious SVNS Series, which starts in Dubai at the end of this month.
Featuring seven iconic destinations around the world, the Series will culminate in Los Angeles on May 3 to 4. That follows the penultimate round of the regular season in Singapore, where the SVNS League Winners will be crowned at the National Stadium on April 5 to 6.
Singapore and Los Angeles complete the season schedule, with World Rugby having already revealed the five other stops for this upcoming season. Those destinations are Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver and Hong Kong China.
The season follows tradition by once again kicking things off at Dubai’s The Sevens Stadium on November 30 to December 1. Award-winning artist Stormzy will lead the star-studded entertainment off the field as the event combines sport with music, food and entertainment.
After that event, the Series’ focus will immediately shift to Cape Town, South Africa for the second tournament of the campaign. DHL Stadium will host the 12 best women’s and men’s teams on 7-8 December.
Perth was an overwhelming success on its debut on the Series in January of this year, with thousands watching on as Ireland women stunned Australia in their Cup Final, and then Argentina got the job done against the Aussie men in that decider.
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Following SVNS Perth on January 24 to 26, Vancouver is the fourth destination of the season on February 21 to 23. The fan-favourite Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens will take place on March 28 to 30 at the new Kai Tak Stadium.
The SVNS League Winners will be crowned at Singapore’s National Stadium from April 5 to 6, with the top eight teams from the women’s and men’s competitions moving on to the winner-takes-all World Championship.
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LA will also host the promotion and relegation play-off competition, which sees the bottom four women’s and men’s teams play off against the top sides from the HSBC Sevens Challenger. That will determine the teams that participate in the 2025/26 HSBC SVNS Series.
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“We are delighted to announce the HSBC SVNS 2025 schedule, featuring the best 24 men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams in the world competing in seven iconic global destinations across seven months,” World Rugby Chiefs Executive Alan Gilpin said in a statement.
“Global enthusiasm for rugby sevens is at an all-time high, with over 530,000 fans witnessing the electric action on the pitch at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, including a women’s single session record of 66,000, while tens of millions watched on TV worldwide.
“Building on the Olympic effect and continuing the theme of innovation, we are excited to announce Los Angeles as host of the winner-takes-all HSBC SVNS World Champions 2025, which will take place in the LA 2028 Olympic venue.
“Special thanks to our title partner HSBC for their continued commitment and unwavering support to the sport, together with the excellent collaboration and teammate with all host partners and participating unions, which make SVNS events the ultimate festival of world-class sport, music and entertainment with a feel-good atmosphere loved by fans.
“We are fully committed to the sustainable growth, innovation and success of rugby sevens as a highly impactful and successful Olympic sport. Rugby sevens is an integral part of World Rugby’s global growth strategy and plays a vital role in engaging new participants and fans, particularly in emerging rugby nations and within youth and female demographics.”
Men’s Olympic champions France will look to defend their overall SVNS Series crown in 2025 after their stunning run to glory last time out. They finished fifth in the regular season but brought their A-game to Madrid’s Civitas Metropolitano when it counted.
Antoine Dupont led the way as Les Bleus Sevens booked their place in the Championship Final, where they came up against League Winners Argentina. It was a tense encounter, but it was the French who emerged victorious in front of a lively Spanish crowd.
In the women’s competition, Australia are the reigning champions after shocking New Zealand in the semi-finals in Madrid. They scored twice in about 90 seconds before Tia Hinds converted a clutch conversion to book Australia’s spot in the big dance.
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The women in gold came up against France, but they were far too good in the end with Maddison Levi once again having a significant impact throughout that tournament in Madrid. New Zealand will be out for revenge, and so will the French, but they’re not the old sides eyeing the top prize.
Canada beat France, Australia and so nearly New Zealand as they finished with a silver medal at the Paris Games. The USA are another team to watch – interestingly, those two sides will meet in the Premier Rugby Sevens All-Star Tournament in Portland in just under a week.
But, anything can happen on the SVNS Series.
“A new Series brings new opportunity and we are excited to get this season underway and to partner with World Rugby to leverage the power of our international network,” HSBC’s Group Head of Brand and Partnerships, Jonathan Castleman, discussed.
“Rugby sevens has always been such a good fit for HSBC because of its ability to bring people from all corners of the world together. This year, Uruguay and Kenya men and China women will join the HSBC SVNS via the Challenger Series, further showcasing the international reach of the sport.
“We are particularly excited to experience the new home of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. The move to Kai Tak represents Hong Kong’s ambition and drive to become a true hub of global sport and entertainment and we’re proud to continue to stand alongside the city, and the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, on that journey.”
2024/25 HSBC SVNS Series
Dubai, November 30 – December
Cape Town, December 7-8
Perth, January 24-26
Vancouver, February 21-23
Hong Kong China, March 28-30
Singapore, April 5-6
Los Angeles, May 3-4
When you have a system where a team that has only won two of the seven circuit tournaments, becomes the "Champion", by virtue of winning a shootout tournament after the series ends, this undermines the hard work, resources & grit it takes to perform consistently for the season. Why bother? Why not just use the circuit as a training run for the shootout tourney? And claim "Champion" status despite potentially not winning a tourney all year.
Anybody know the reason why the Madrid leg was dropped? and yet they had a 3 year contract, I can't believe there is no european leg as a NZder it's staggering to me especially after the success of the Paris olympic 7s
"Record breaking succès in olympics " and any tournament in Europe . Curious business acument.....