Next year’s Hong Kong Sevens will be held on the weekend of March 28 to 30, World Rugby has announced.
The tournament was one of five stops for the 2024-25 season that the global governing body confirmed on Thursday, with Dubai kicking things off in just 10 weeks’ time, followed by stops in South Africa, Australia and Canada.
Other events in what is normally an eight-stop season are expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Officials are hoping to hold the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens at the new Kai Tak Sports Park (KTSP), with the stadium expected to ready by the end of this year and a test event pencilled in for January.
James Farndon, the Hong Kong China Rugby (HKCR) CEO, said the governing body was “working very closely with the KTSP team to make that happen, adding: “Once we are able to provide more details, we will do so.”
Ticketing details were expected to be confirmed in September, with tickets themselves going on sale in November, HKCR said.
While Hong Kong’s men and women are not part of the world series, they are again expected to play over the sevens weekend in the invitational Melrose Claymores competition.
Several new teams will take part in the main tournament, though, with China’s women recently promoted to the elite level. Also making the step up are Kenya and Uruguay in the men’s competition.
The Sevens Stadium in Dubai will host the first round from November 30 to December 1, with the season then moving on to the DHL Stadium in Cape Town the following weekend.
Australia’s west coast will hold the third round, with Perth staging what officials hope will be another packed crowed at HBF Park from January 24 to 26, then Vancouver will be the next stop almost a month later on February 21 to 23.
World Rugby is hoping to build on the success of the sport at the Paris Olympics, where an Antoine Dupont-powered France took gold in the men’s event, and New Zealand in the women’s.
“We are announcing the first destinations now to allow fans to mark their calendars and get prepared to see the stars of the Olympics shine again in some of the world’s most iconic stadiums and destinations, with the dates for the remaining exciting destinations to be confirmed soon,” Sam Pinder, the World Rugby Sevens general manager, said.
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