By Ntiense Williams 6.11.2026
The 2026 Africa Women’s Sevens Championship will kick off on Saturday, 7 November 2026 at the RFUEA Grounds, Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together 11 of Africa’s leading women’s national sevens teams for two days of high-intensity rugby.
Organised by Rugby Africa as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations, this year’s edition will double as the “World Rugby HSBC SVNS 3 Africa Qualifiers,” raising the stakes beyond the continental title. The best-placed team, excluding South Africa, will earn Africa’s sole ticket to the World Rugby SVNS 3 tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, scheduled for November 27-29 2026.
First instituted in 2004, the Africa Women’s Sevens is the continental championship for women’s international rugby sevens in Africa. It has grown from a small North African competition to a major continental event and a recognised pathway to the Olympic Games, World Cup Sevens, Challenger Series and now the SVNS Series.
South Africa are the defending champions and the most successful team in the history of the competition, with 13 titles. Kenya won the title once in 2018, while Tunisia won once in 2012. Only these three nations have ever lifted the trophy.
In the 2025 edition, also staged at the RFUEA Grounds, South Africa defeated Kenya 22-0 in the final to retain the title.
The 11 participating teams have been drawn into three pools:
Pool A:South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda
Pool B: Kenya (Hosts), Tunisia, Ghana
Pool C: Uganda, Madagascar, Mauritius, Burkina Faso
Hosts Kenya, known as the Lionesses, will open their campaign in Pool B against Ghana and Tunisia on Day 1. Defending champions South Africa headline Pool A, while Uganda, Madagascar, Mauritius and Burkina Faso will contest Pool C.
Despite being Africa’s most populous nation and a country with a growing domestic rugby base in Lagos, Edo, Delta, Kano, Kaduna, Abia, Imo and Rivers States, the Nigeria women’s national sevens team — the Lady Stallions — will not be in Nairobi.
Nigeria’s absence is not due to a lack of talent, but a lack of continental ranking and continuity.
The Lady Stallions have struggled to maintain a consistent presence in the Africa Women’s Sevens in recent years. After a World Rugby suspension in 2021 following government interference in federation administration, Nigeria missed key qualification windows, including the Africa Women’s Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympic pre-qualifiers. The team returned to international competition in 2022 and participated at the 2024 African Games in Ghana, where it lost all its group matches, including to Ghana — a nation Nigeria had helped develop its rugby programme in 2008.
Note: 1. Rugby Sevens is played with seven players per side, over two halves of seven minutes each.
2. The 2026 Africa Women’s Sevens is taking place on 7-8 November 2026 at RFUEA Grounds, Nairobi, Kenya.
3. The tournament doubles as the World Rugby HSBC SVNS 3 Africa Qualifiers.
4. The 2026 Africa Men’s Sevens Series concluded on 4 October 2026 in Mauritius. Final standings: Kenya 1st, Madagascar 2nd, South Africa A 3rd, Burkina Faso 4th, Zimbabwe 5th, Uganda 6th, Morocco 7th, Zambia 8th, Tunisia 9th, Nigeria 10th, Senegal 11th, Ghana 12th.