The Paris 2024 Olympic rugby sevens match schedule has been unveiled by World Rugby and Paris 2024 today, with just 16 days to go until the sport has the honour of kicking off the Games on 24 July, two days ahead of the Opening Ceremony.
The schedule follows the pools announcement, which took place in Monaco on 23 June and saw the 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams allocated to three pools of four teams based on their Olympic seedings, with teams ranked according to their performances over the last two years of the HSBC SVNS Series.
The men’s competition will take place on 24, 25 and 27 July, when the first team sport gold medal of the Games will be awarded to the men’s rugby sevens champions. The equally highly anticipated women’s tournament follows on 28-30 July.
All the action will take place at the iconic Stade de France, with a full house of 69,000 fans expected for all competition sessions as rugby sevens demonstrates its box office appeal and prepares to come of age in Paris, stamping its mark on the Olympic stage in its third appearance at the Games.
Australia and Samoa will have the honour of kicking off the Olympic competition as they take to the field for the first match at 15:30 local time CET (GMT+2) on 24 July. Hosts and recent SVNS Grand Final champions France inspired by global superstar Antoine Dupont will get their campaign under away the USA at 16:30 followed by double Olympic champions Fiji who face debutants Uruguay at 17:00.
Ireland and Great Britain will get play under way in the women’s tournament at 15:30 on 28 July, while reigning champions New Zealand play Challenger champions China and SVNS Grand Final champions Australia kick off against South Africa.
As teams continue their preparations to chase their Olympic dreams, the majority of squads have already been announced and fans can now mark their calendars with the exact date and time of their favourite nations matches.
The competition format sees all teams play three pool matches with eight teams qualifying for the quarter-finals in the evening session of the second day of competition, before the third day sees the semi-finals and the all-important medal matches as Olympic dreams are realised and broken.
Rugby sevens is expected to be one of the highlights of Paris 2024, following the resounding success of Rugby World Cup 2023 in France. All the action will take place at Stade de France, which was the venue for the opening match and final of Rugby World Cup 2023.
All six World Rugby regions are represented among the 24 teams who secured their spots in Paris via the HSBC SVNS Series, regional qualification competitions and the World Rugby Sevens Repechage.
World Rugby Chief Executive Alan Gilpin said: “The unveiling of the match schedule is another exciting step on the road to Paris with just 16 days to go until rugby sevens kicks off the Olympic Games. The players, teams and fans can now mark their calendars and fine tune their preparations for what promises to be an incredible six days of fast paced, all action drama as some of the best athletes in the world showcase the speed, strength and skill of rugby sevens to a huge worldwide audience.
“Following rugby sevens’ Olympic debut at Rio 2016 and the Covid affected Games in Tokyo, we are anticipating Paris 2024 to be the sport’s ‘coming of age’ Games – the biggest and best yet – with a full house of passionate fans expected across all sessions at the iconic Stade de Fance, representing a golden opportunity to further grow rugby’s global appeal.”
Paris 2024 Executive Director of Sport Competitions Aurélie Merle said: “Rugby sevens has the honour of kicking off the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and we know the atmosphere will be electric inside the Stade de France, with full and passionate crowds for every session in a country that truly loves rugby. “The release of the competition schedule raises our anticipation even higher, with so many tantalising match-ups to look forward to. With less than three weeks to go, the stage is set and everything is ready for the athletes to enjoy an unrivalled experience and to thrill all those millions of fans watching in France and around the world.”