The German national rugby sevens team competes in the top-level European sevens competition, the Sevens Grand Prix Series. In 2012, Germany finished eleventh out of twelve teams and avoided relegation. The team also unsuccessfully took part in the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying tournament in Moscow in July 2012.
In 2015 Germany qualified to the Final 2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament, where they failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.Der DRV-Arbeitsplan “Rugby auf dem Weg nach Olympia 2016” totalrugby.de, author: Claus-Peter Bach, published: 19 October 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2010
Germany won the 2019 Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series, an equivalent to European Championships in other team sports.
Germany finished in the top four at the playoffs for promotion/relegation at the 2025 USA Sevens, qualifying them to compete in the 2026 SVNS series.
History
The team has taken part in the Hong Kong Sevens tournament in the past, its greatest success being a win in the Bowl final in 1990, beating Thailand 28–12.Hong Kong Sevens finals: 1990's Hong Kong Sevens official website. Retrieved 9 February 2009 In the 1990s, the team, captained by Rainer Kumm, took part in a number of international tournaments including the Punta del Este Sevens in 1997, where they lost to Argentina in the Plate final and the Paris Sevens in 1996, 1997 (when they defeated Romania in the Bowl final) and 1998 (Bowl finalists, losing to Japan in the final).
Kumm retired in 2000 to take up coaching and was replaced as captain by Mark Schulze, who led the team to the 2000 Sri Lanka Sevens, where they reached the cup semi-final, having won their pool and defeated Hong Kong in the quarter-final.
In 2000 the German Rugby Federation celebrated its centenary. Centenary celebrations included the hosting in 2000 the European leg of qualifying for the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Heidelberg, followed by a Centenary banquet in the Heidelberg Castle. In the tournament the German team thrashed Switzerland and Yugoslavia and lost 12–35 to Ireland, who had Gordon D'Arcy in their line-up.
In 2005 Germany hosted the 2005 World Games where Germany participated in the rugby sevens tournament. After losing all three games on the first day of the tournament, Germany went on to the Bowl semi-finals where they lost 35–12 against France and 31–17 against Japan in the seventh-place final.
After years of playing in the lower ranks of the Sevens Grand Prix, Germany started a continuous rise which ultimately led to a second place in the 2018 Sevens Grand Prix behind Ireland and to winning the 2019 Sevens Grand Prix ahead of France. Since 2016 they participated four times in the Hong Kong Sevens Qualifier where they reached the finals twice.
Germany qualified for the 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series. In round one of the series they went undefeated in their pool, even beating eventual winners, Kenya. However, losses to Chile in the semi-final, and to Uruguay in the bronze final saw them finish in fourth place. They finished fourth in the overall series and qualified for the SVNS promotion and relegation play-off competition at the 2024 Spain Sevens.
Tournament history
World Cup Sevens record Rugby World Cup Sevens RecordYearRoundPosition 1993Did not qualify 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2018 2022Bowl Final18th4220Total 0 Titles 1/8 4 2 2 0
Summer Olympics record Olympic GamesYearRoundPosition 2016Did not qualify 2020Total0 Titles0/00000
World Rugby Sevens Series
World Series RecordSeasonPosition1999–0022nd2003–0415th2008–0917th2016–17Did Not Qualify2017–182018–192019–2020217th2021-2218th2022-2320thTotal 0 Titles
World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series
Sevens Challenger SeriesYearPosition 20203rd 2021 Not held 2022 4th 2023 3rd 2024 4th 2025 2nd
World Games World GamesYearRoundPosition2001 AkitaDid not qualify2005 Duisburg7th Place Finalist8th50502009 KaohsiungDid not qualify2013 Cali
Rugby Europe Sevens
Rugby Europe SevensYearRoundPosition 2002Third Place3rd 2003Fourth Place4th 2004Fifteenth Place15th 2005Sixth Place6th 2006Not played 2007Ninth Place9th 2008Seventh Place7th 2009Ninth Place9th 2010Not played 2011Champions1st (promoted) 2012Eleventh Place11th 2013Eleventh Place11th 2014Tenth Place10th 2015Fifth Place5th 2016Fourth Place4th 2017Fifth Place5th 2018Runners-up2nd 2019Champions1st 2021Runners-up2nd 2022Runners-up2ndTotal 1 Title 17/20
Honours
Rugby Europe Sevens Winners: 2019 Runner-up: 2018 Third-place: 2002 Fourth-place: 2003, 2016
Current squad Squad for the 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Dubai. No.Players1Felix Hufnagel2Bastian van der Bosch3John Dawe4Niklas Koch5Maximilian Heid8Ben Ellermann9Max Roddick11Philip Gleitze12Tim Lichtenberg30Daniel Eneke71Chris Umeh99Jakob Dipper
References
External links Deutscher Rugby-Verband – Official Site German Sevens team at totalrugby.de Hannover sevens website