Rugby 7 tournament of Conference 1 in Belgrade

The European Championship Conference 1 is being held this weekend in Belgrade. As many as 17 teams will take part in the women's and men's competition.

The season in the European Rugby 7's Championship starts at the weekend

The first week of June is always the informal start of the Rugby 7s season where there will be competitions in as many as four levels of men’s competition and three levels of women’s competition. Belgrade will host Conference 1 for the fourth and last time, which is the third level of competition for both women and men. Unlike the first three times, where the competition was played at the Kralj Petar Prvi stadium, this tournament will be played at the FK Železnik stadium in the suburb of the same name. The European Rugby Federation, together with the Rugby Union of Serbia, made sure to create excellent conditions for both the players and the audience.

The tournament will last three days in total. The official program begins on Friday when the ladies take to the field. Saturday is reserved for the end of the women’s competition and the start of the men’s competition. The competition in the men’s competition will also be completed on Sunday.

How to get to the FK Železnik stadium?

If you decide to come to the field by car, and you are coming from the direction of the city center, we recommend that you take the Ibar highway, and before the ring road turn onto Avalska Street towards Železnik, where you will eventually reach the field directly. You can also go to Vodovodsko via Žarkovo, pass through the center of Železnik and head towards Avalska Street. We are not sure about the parking, but we assume that there will be enough places.

If you decide to go by public transport, we recommend two lines, 58 and 88, where you will get off at the “MZ Novi Železnik” station, and you will have ten minutes on foot to reach the stadium. If you are coming from the direction of Miljakovec and Rakovica, you can use bus number 54 and get off at the “Avalska” station. There is an option to take bus 23 and 53 to the roundabout at Vidikovac and catch 521, where you will also get off at the “Avalska” station. Keep in mind to follow the daily driving schedule for the weekend. If you have difficulty finding your way around the City Transport website, click here.

How to prepare for watching matches?

Keep in mind that very high temperatures are forecast for the weekend. Be sure to bring a hat, cap, or find some other way to stay out of the sun. It is certain that you will have natural shade in the stadium where you can take shelter. Also always have some refreshing drink with you. We assume that drinks will be sold at the tournament, which will help in the fight against the heat. We strongly recommend that you bring sunscreen, you will really need it if you are exposed to the sun.

Photo: Vanja Bejin

Where can you watch matches live?

We recommend that you follow the YouTube channel of the European Rugby Federation, where you will be able to follow the entire tournament live. If you are not a fan of quick and easy search, you can always find an alternative link to the live broadcast on the website of the already mentioned organization.

Competition system and match schedule

On our website, you can find general information, as well as the results of the matches played. As for the entire schedule of matches, see it on the website of the European Rugby Federation. Given that there are 9 teams competing in Conference 1, the schedule is known only in the first part of the competition, which is divided into three groups of three teams each. We are in a group with Bulgaria and Andorra. After the match in the first phase, three new groups of three teams are formed to play in the second phase, while in the third phase they will fight for placement. Namely, the first four teams after two stages will advance to the ½ finals and will fight for a place in a higher rank, then the next three teams will form a group of 3 teams that will fight for a place of 5. to 7th place. And in the end, the two last placed teams will fight for 8th place, where the worst team will be relegated to the rank below. The competition system is the same as last year, which foresees something that we have never seen in the history of sports, which is the fight of two teams in a direct clash for even position, i.e. 8th place.

In the women’s competition, 8 teams will compete, which will be divided into two groups of 4. After the matches by groups, the two first-placed teams will fight in the ½ final, the two worst teams in both groups will play a play-off for the placement of 6тх to 8th position . You can find the entire schedule on the website of the European Rugby Federation.

We will not follow the women’s tournament because the Serbian national team is not participating. It is a real shame that there has been no women’s rugby in recent years as this was an ideal opportunity to promote women’s rugby and form club teams.

Photo: Vanja Bejin

What awaits the Serbian national team?

A very difficult tournament awaits us. We have two very serious teams at the beginning. The Bulgarians were relegated and used the previous period to prepare for the tournament as well as possible and return to the Trophy group. They have already performed at the Costa Brava tournament in Spain, where they were quite convincingly defeated by Croatia, which competes hand in hand with the European elite, which is even two ranks above us. The match against Bulgaria is on Saturday at 9:22 a.m., the second game of the Saturday program.

The second match awaits us against Andorra, which is traditionally a difficult opponent in rugby sevens. The Eagles’ second match is at 11:44 a.m. When the matches of the first phase are over, the schedule of the matches in the second phase will be known.

How much can the Serbian national team do?

That is a very good question, last year we predicted that we would find ourselves in the upper part of the table, so in the end we were saved from relegation by the cancellation of the try of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final match. However, we believe that ours can be placed in the upper part of the table, they can even get involved in the fight for the ½ final. In any case, Serbia needs support from the stands and we hope to use the home ground to show a good game.

Serbian nation team squad

  1. Mirko Ranković – RK Rad – Serbia – captain
  2. Stanislav Ljubičić – RK Rad – Serbia
  3. Uroš Jončić – RK Rad – Serbia
  4. Milan Vesković – RK Rad – Serbia
  5. Igor Gajić – RK Rad – Serbia
  6. Nemanja Stošić – RK Rad – Serbia
  7. Nemanja Lazić – RK Kruševac – Serbia
  8. Aleksandar Andrić – RK Partizan – Serbia
  9. Ivan Nikolić – RK Dorćol 1998 – Serbia
  10. Janko Zemun Milinković – Vaduz – Liechtenstein
  11. Antoine Jovović – RC Merignac – France
  12. Bojan Čečarić – Amersham and Chiltern – England
  13. Kaspar Strugar – Henley Hawkes – England
  • Head coach: Marko Kapor
  • Coach: Mišel Milović
  • Manager: Ljubomir Bukvić
  • Doctor: Enes Isaki