Tentative dates and details for this year’s Rugby Africa Cup competition to be held in Kampala, Uganda have been released. The tentative dates are from July 7 to 21, 2025.

The venue for the tournament which shall also be a qualifier for the expanded Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2027 is the Nelson Mandela Namboole Stadium. Winners of this tournament shall book a ticket to Australia and the losers have a second chance by playing in a repechage competition against other regions.

A detailed information, exclusively obtained by The Sports New Arena indicates that the tournament that has eight top teams will be played on a straight knock-out format. Teams have been seeded according to how they finished at the last tournament hosted by Uganda last year.

Top seeds

Winners of that tournament, Zimbabwe are the top seeds and begin their campaign against Morocco on July 12. Algeria, the second seeds tackle Ivory Coast in the next match. Namibia and Senegal face off in the third match with Kenya and Uganda facing off in the final tie of match day one.

The organizers have suggested two proposals that have been sent to the teams and the hosts for consideration. In the first proposal, match day one starts on July 8 with the finals on July 19 while in the second proposal, match day one is on July 12 and the finals on July 20. 

Morocco returned to top flight right after a four year draught by completing the line up for this year’s  championship. They defeated Tunisia 26-12 on February 9, 2025 in a North Africa Repechage derby.

The achievement was achieved under the leadership of Hisham Obaja, the Morocco Rugby Union president and coach Quaider Qazimi. 

North Africa Derby

Morocco and Tunisia booked their spot in the final after finishing top of their pools in Morocco and Tunisia. Morocco navigated their path by finishing top in a Pool B tournament that had Cameroon, Madagascar and Botswana from November 20-24, 2024 while Tunisia hosted Zambia, Ghana and Nigeria in Pool A from DEcember 18-22, 2024. 

In the meantime, Zimbabwe will host the Rugby Africa Under-20 Trophy from April 17-27. Kenya are the current reigning champions after beating Zimbabwe last year. Zimbabwe won the title in 2022 and 2023.

Proposed Rugby Africa Cup Championship, July 7-21

Teams: Zimbabwe, Algeria, Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Morocco.

Proposal 1

Match Day 1, July 8

Match 1 10 am,  Zimbabwe v Morocco

Match 2 12 pm Algeria v Ivory Coast 

Match 3 2 pm Namibia v Senegal 

Match 4 4 pm, Kenya v Uganda  

Match Day two July 13

Match 5 10 am Fifth place semi-final 2 : Loser Match 2 v Loser Match 3

Match 6 12 pm Fifth place semi-final 1: Loser Match 1 v Loser Match 4 

Match 7 2 pm Cup semi-final 2: Winner Match 2 v Winner Match 3 

Match 8 4 pm Cup semi-final 2: Winner Match 1 v Winner Match 4

Match Day 3, July 19

Match 9 10 am Seventh place final: Looser Match 5 v Loser Match 6, 

Match 10 12 pm Fifth place final: Winner Match 5 v Winner Match 6, 

Match 11 2 pm Third place play-off: Loser Match 7 v Loser Match 8, 

Match 12 4 pm Cup final: Winner Match 7 v Winner Match 8

Second proposal

Match Day 1, July 12

Match 1 10 am: Zimbabwe v Morocco

Match 2 12 pm: Algeria v Ivory Coast

Match 3 2 pm: Namibia v Senegal

Match 4 4 pm Kenya v Uganda

Match Day 2, July 16

Match 5 10 am Fifth place semi-final 1: Loser Match 2 v Loser Match 3

Match 6 12 pm Fifth place semi-final 2: Loser Match 1 v Loser Match 4

Match 7 2 pm Cup Semi-final 2: Winner Match 2 v Winner Match 3

Match 8 4 pm Cup Semi final 1: Winner Match 1 v Match 4

Match day 3, July 20

Match 9 10 am Seventh place final: Loser Match 5 v Loser Match 6

Match 10 12 pm Fifth place final: Winner Match 5 v Winner Match 6

Match 11 2 pm Third place play off:  Loser Match 7 v Loser Match 8

Match 12 4 pm Cup final: Winner Match 7 v Winner Match 8