SVNS

HSBC SVNS
Current season, competition or edition:; 2024–25 SVNS
Formerly	IRB Sevens World Series (1999–2014); Sevens World Series (2014–2015); World Rugby Sevens Series (2015–2023);
Sport	Rugby sevens
Founded	1999; 25 years ago
First season	1999–2000
No. of teams	12 (2023–24)
Most recent; champion(s)	France (2023–24)
Most titles	New Zealand (14 titles)
Qualification	Challenger Series
TV partner(s)	List of broadcasters
Level on pyramid	1
Official website	www.svns.com/en

The SVNS,^[1]^[2] known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series,^[3] the competition was formed to promote an elite-level of international rugby sevens and develop the game into a viable commercial product. The competition has been sponsored by banking group HSBC since 2014.

The season's circuit consists of eight tournaments held in five continents, generally beginning in November or December and ending in May or June. All tournaments feature the same 12 teams.

Teams compete for the World Rugby Series title by accumulating points based on their finishing position in each tournament. The bottom four teams play a repechange tournament against the top four teams of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.

New Zealand had originally dominated the Series, winning each of the first six seasons from 1999–2000 to 2004–05, but since then, Fiji, South Africa, Samoa and Australia have each won season titles. England, Argentina and the United States have placed in the top three for several seasons but have not won the series title.

The International Olympic Committee's decision in 2009 to add rugby sevens to the Summer Olympics beginning in 2016 has added a boost to rugby sevens and to the World Sevens Series; this boost has led to increased exposure and revenues, leading several of the core teams to field fully professional squads.

History

International sevens

The first international rugby sevens tournament was held in 1973 in Scotland, which was celebrating a century of the Scottish Rugby Union.^[4] Seven international teams took part, with England defeating Ireland 22–18 in the final to take the trophy. The Hong Kong Sevens annual tournament began in 1976.^[5] Over the next two decades the number of international sevens competitions increased. The most notable was the Rugby World Cup Sevens with Scotland hosting the inaugural event in 1993,^[6] along with rugby joining the Commonwealth Games program in 1998.

World Series early years

Former series logos: 1999 (top);
pre–2010 (middle); 2011–2015 (centre-bottom); 2015–2023 (bottom).

The first season of the World Sevens Series was the 1999–2000 season. At the Series launch, the chairman of the International Rugby Board, Vernon Pugh, described the IRB's vision of the role of this new competition: "this competition has set in place another important element in the IRB’s drive to establish rugby as a truly global sport, one with widespread visibility and steadily improving standards of athletic excellence."^[7] New Zealand and Fiji dominated the first series, meeting in the final in eight of the ten season tournaments, and New Zealand narrowly won, overtaking Fiji by winning the last tournament of the series.^[7]

New Zealand won the first six seasons in a row from 1999–2000 to 2004–05,^[8] led by players such as Karl Te Nana and Amasio Valence. The number of stops in the series varied over the seasons, but experienced a contraction from 11 tournaments in 2001–02 to 7 tournaments in 2002–03 due to the global recession. In the 2005–06 season Fiji clinched the season trophy on the last tournament of the season finishing ahead of England.^[9] New Zealand regained the trophy in 2006–07 season in the last tournament of the season.^[10]

South Africa was the next team to win the series after taking home the 2008–09 title.^[11] In the 2009–10 season, Samoa who finished seventh the previous year shocked the world – led by 2010 top try-scorer and World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year Mikaele Pesamino – by winning four of the last five tournaments to overtake New Zealand and win the series.^[12]

Olympic era and professionalism

The number of core teams expanded from 12 to 15 for the 2011–12 series. Qualification for these places was played out at the 2012 Hong Kong Sevens. Canada (returning to core status for the first time since 2008),^[13] Spain and Portugal joined the 12 core teams for the next season. The Japan event also made a return for the first time since 2001 (lasting until 2015). New Zealand continued their dominance by finishing on top.

Argentina was originally planned to begin hosting a tenth event with Mar Del Plata the venue in the 2012–13 season, giving the tour an event on each continent, but when Argentina joined the Rugby Championship those plans were shelved.^[14]^[15] With the same schedule, New Zealand again were the winners over South Africa. They took it again in 2013–14 with Spain the first team to be relegated after finishing last during that season with Japan replacing them.^{[citation needed]}

Heading into the 2014–15 season, the top four teams qualifying to the 2016 Summer Olympics, with Fiji, South Africa, New Zealand and Great Britain all qualifying through.^[16] The 2014–15 season and 2015–16 season were won by Fiji – the first time a team other than New Zealand won back-to-back season titles – led by 2015 and 2016 season Dream Team nominee Osea Kolinisau The two seasons also yielded teams winning their first tournaments – the United States won the 2015 London Sevens to finish the season in sixth overall;^[17] Kenya won the 2016 Singapore Sevens, and Scotland won the 2016 London Sevens.^[18]^[19] Prior to the 2015–16 season World Rugby did a comprehensive review of all nine tournament hosts and adjusted the schedule, dropping two sites (Japan and Scotland), and adding three sites (France, Singapore and Canada) to the calendar.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2016–17 series, a dominant and consistent display by South Africa saw them reach the finals of the 2016–17 series rounds on eight occasions, winning five of these. As a result, South Africa were series champions with victory in the penultimate round in Paris. The season was a qualifier for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens with the top four teams that had not already qualified, coming from this season.^[20] The teams that made it through to the World Cup via this method were Canada, Argentina, Scotland and Samoa.^[21]

Tournament hosts

The World Series will consist of 8 scheduled tournament stops from the 2023–24 season, which generally fall in the same order and timeframes. From 2020 to 2022, however, several of these events had to be cancelled due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[22]^[23]

Key: Event added for the 2023–24 season

Event	Venue	City	Joined series ^[a]	Scheduled	Ref
Dubai	The Sevens	Dubai	1999–2000	December	^[24]
South Africa	Cape Town Stadium	Cape Town	1999–2000	December	^[25]
Australia	Perth Rectangular Stadium	Perth	1999–2000	January	^[26]
USA	Dignity Health Sports Park	Los Angeles	2003–04	February	^[27]
Canada	BC Place	Vancouver	2015–16	March	^[28]
Hong Kong	Hong Kong Stadium	Hong Kong	1999–2000	April	^[5]
Singapore	National Stadium	Singapore	2015–16	May	^[29]
Spain	Metropolitano Stadium	Madrid	2023–24	May/June

Notes

^ Most of these tournaments were established when added to the World Series, with certain exceptions. The two oldest are Dubai, which began in 1970, and Hong Kong which began in 1976.^[24]^[5] The tournaments in Australia and France date back to 1986 and 1996, respectively.^[30]^[31]

Teams, promotion and relegation

Core teams

A group of core teams, currently 12 in number, is announced for each season based on performances in the previous season. Each core team has a guaranteed place in all of that season's events. The core teams have been selected through a designated promotion/relegation process since the 2012–13 season. A new system from the 2023–24 season, will see 12 core teams, with up to 4 being relegated each year.

#	Team	Core since	Best Series Finish (Last)
1	Argentina	1999–00	2nd (2023–24)
2	Ireland	2019–20	5th (2023–24)
3	New Zealand	1999–00	1st (2022–23)
4	Australia	1999–00	1st (2021–22)
5	France	1999–00	1st (2023–24)
6	Fiji	1999–00	1st (2018–19)
7	South Africa	1999–00	1st (2021)
8	Great Britain^[a]	2022–23	2nd (2021)
9	United States	2008–09	2nd (2018–19)
10	Spain	2017–18	9th (2021)
11	Uruguay	2024–25	12th (2022–23)
12	Kenya	2024–25	3rd (2021)

Key: * indicates a tied placing

Former core teams
Team	Last season as core	Best Series finish (Last)
England	2021–22	2nd (2016–17)
Japan	2022–23	12th* (1999–00)
Samoa	2023–24	1st (2009–10)
Portugal	2015–16	14th (2014–15)
Russia	2017–18	14th (2016–17)
Scotland	2021–22	7th (2016–17)
Canada	2023–24	4th (2021)
Wales	2021–22	6th (2006–07)

Notes

^ Great Britain, formed as a merger of England, Scotland and Wales, became a core team in 2022–23 but the three predecessor teams had core status from the early years of the series.

Invited teams

Non-core teams are also invited to compete in every season of the World Rugby Sevens Series under previous formats. With 15 core teams, there was generally only one invited team at each 16-team tournament.^[32] Before 2012–13, when there were only 12 core teams,^[33] four places at each tournament were usually available to invited teams.^[34]

Invited teams with a Top-15 Series finish
Team	Last season played	Best Series finish (Last)
Chile	2021	11th (2021)
China	2010–11	14th (2005–06)
Cook Islands	2011–12	13th (2001–02)
Georgia	2008–09	10th* (1999–00)
Germany	2021–22	7th (2021)
Hong Kong	2022–23	8th (2021)
Italy	2009–10	15th (2002–03)
Jamaica	2021–22	10th (2021)
South Korea	2019–20	11th (2000–01)
Morocco	2011–12	15th (2001–02)
Mexico	2021	12th (2021)
Namibia	2010–11	14th (2001–02)
Papua New Guinea	2017–18	12th* (1999–00)
Tonga	2018–19	10th* (1999–00)
Tunisia	2009–10	11th (2004–05)
Zimbabwe	2018–19	14th (2000–01)

Key: * indicates a tied placing

Promotion and relegation

In 2019, World Rugby announced a plan to create a second-tier competition that would allow the best thirteen sevens teams, with the addition of three invited teams, from their region to compete in a similar style format to the Sevens Series for the potential of gaining promotion to the World Rugby Sevens Series and becoming a core team.^[35] This breaks from the usual format of promotion and relegation in the sevens series.

From 2013–14 series to 2018–19 the promotion/relegation was as follows:

One team is relegated and one team is promoted each year.
The core team that finishes bottom of the table at the end of the season series is relegated.
The team that wins the 12-team qualifying tournament at the Hong Kong Sevens is promoted.

From 2020 to 2023 the style of promotion/relegation was as such:

One team is relegated and one team is promoted each year.
The core team that finishes bottom of the table at the end of the season series is relegated to the Challenger Series.
Eight teams will compete for promotion in the Hong Kong Sevens event after qualifying through the Challenger Series.

From 2024 onwards the style of promotion/relegation will be as such:

Teams ranked 9–12 will play in the promotion/relegation part of the grand final where they will be joined by the top 4 teams from the Challenger Series
Top 4 teams from this event are promoted to the SVNS Series
The bottom 4 teams are relegated to the Challenger Series

Season	Core teams	Relegated (post-season)	Promoted (for the next season)
2011–12	12	None	Canada, Portugal, Spain
2012–13	15	No relegation or promotion
2013–14	15	Spain	Japan
2014–15	15	Japan	Russia
2015–16	15	Portugal	Japan
2016–17	15	Japan	Spain
2017–18	15	Russia	Japan
2018–19	15	Japan	Ireland
2019–20	15	None^[a]	Japan
2021	16^[b]	No relegation or promotion^[c]
2021–22	16^[d]	No relegation	Uruguay
2022–23	15^[e]	Japan, Kenya, Uruguay	No promotion
2023–24	12	Samoa, Canada	Uruguay, Kenya

Notes

^ There was no relegation from the 2019–20 core teams due to the curtailed season. Therefore, Wales, who would have been relegated as the lowest placed core team, retained core team status. Japan was promoted as the winner of the Challenger Series, making it 16 core teams for the following series.
^ Only 6 of the 16 core teams took part in the 2021 Series, which consisted of two tournament events played in Canada.
^ All 16 core teams from the truncated 2021 season retained their core status for the 2021–22 season, with no promotion or relegation.^[36]
^ The first two events in Dubai will be played with only 14 teams, as England, Scotland and Wales will be replaced for Great Britain.
^ The teams that make up Great Britain combined for the 2022–23 season from three teams to one.

Other qualifying

The World Series results are sometimes used as a qualifier for other tournaments. For example, the top four teams of the 2014–15 series automatically qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Similarly, certain teams from the 2016–17 series qualified for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens.

Historical results

Top-6 placings by season

Summary of the top six placegetters for each series:

Series	Season	Rds	Champion	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth	Ref
I	1999–00	10	^{New Zealand} _{^{(186 pts)}}	Fiji	Australia	Samoa	South Africa	Canada	^[37]
II	2000–01	9	^{New Zealand} _{^{(162 pts)}}	Australia	Fiji	Samoa	South Africa	Argentina	^[38]
III	2001–02	11	^{New Zealand} _{^{(198 pts)}}	South Africa	England	Fiji	Australia	Samoa	^[39]
IV	2002–03	7 ^[a]	^{New Zealand} _{^{(112 pts)}}	England	Fiji	South Africa	Australia	Samoa	^[42]
V	2003–04	8	^{New Zealand} _{^{(128 pts)}}	England	Argentina	Fiji	South Africa	Samoa	^[43]
VI	2004–05	7	^{New Zealand} _{^{(116 pts)}}	Fiji	England	South Africa	Argentina	Australia	^[44]
VII	2005–06	8	^Fiji _{^{(144 pts)}}	England	South Africa	New Zealand	Samoa	Argentina	^[45]
VIII	2006–07	8	^{New Zealand} _{^{(130 pts)}}	Fiji	Samoa	South Africa	England	Wales	^[46]
IX	2007–08	8	^{New Zealand} _{^{(154 pts)}}	South Africa	Samoa	Fiji	England	Argentina	^[47]
X	2008–09	8	^{South Africa} _{^{(132 pts)}}	Fiji	England	New Zealand	Argentina	Kenya	^[48]
XI	2009–10	8	^Samoa _{^{(164 pts)}}	New Zealand	Australia	Fiji	England	South Africa	^[49]
XII	2010–11	8	^{New Zealand} _{^{(166 pts)}}	South Africa	England	Fiji	Samoa	Australia	^[50]
XIII	2011–12	9	^{New Zealand} _{^{(167 pts)}}	Fiji	England	Samoa	South Africa	Australia	^[51]
XIV	2012–13	9	^{New Zealand} _{^{(173 pts)}}	South Africa	Fiji	Samoa	Kenya	England	^[52]
XV	2013–14	9	^{New Zealand} _{^{(180 pts)}}	South Africa	Fiji	England	Australia	Canada	^[53]
XVI	2014–15	9	^Fiji _{^{(164 pts)}}	South Africa	New Zealand	England	Australia	United States	^[54]
XVII	2015–16	10	^Fiji _{^{(181 pts)}}	South Africa	New Zealand	Australia	Argentina	United States	^[55]
XVIII	2016–17	10	^{South Africa} _{^{(192 pts)}}	England	Fiji	New Zealand	United States	Australia	^[56]
XIX	2017–18	10	^{South Africa} _{^{(182 pts)}}	Fiji	New Zealand	Australia	England	United States	^[57]
XX	2018–19	10	^Fiji _{^{(186 pts)}}	United States	New Zealand	South Africa	England	Samoa	^[58]
XXI	2019–20	6 ^[b]	^{New Zealand} _{^{(115 pts)}}	South Africa	Fiji	Australia	England	France	^[60]
XXII	2021	2 ^[c]	^{South Africa} _{^{(40 pts)}}	Great Britain	Kenya	Canada	United States	Ireland	^[61]
XXIII	2021–22	9	^Australia _{^{(126 pts)}}	South Africa	Fiji	Argentina	Ireland	United States	^[62]
XXIV	2022–23	11	^{New Zealand} _{^{(200 pts)}}	Argentina	Fiji	France	Australia	Samoa	^[63]
XXV	2023–24	8	France	Argentina	Fiji	New Zealand	Ireland	South Africa	^[64]

Notes

^ Due to concerns in 2003 about the SARS virus, tournaments scheduled for China, Malaysia, and Singapore were cancelled.^[40]^[41]
^ The last four rounds of the 2020 World Rugby Sevens Series, scheduled for London, Paris, Singapore, and Hong Kong, were cancelled due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[59]
^ Due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, only two tournaments were played during the 2021 series (instead of the usual ten) and most of the top teams from the 2019–20 series did not compete.^[22]

Top-6 placings by team

Tally of top six placings in the series for each team, updated after the most recently completed 2022-23 season (obtained by summing the placings of each team as recorded in the above table of results by season).

Team	Champion	Runner-up	Third	Fourth	Top-3 Apps	Top-6 Apps
New Zealand	14	1	5	3	19	24
South Africa	4	9	1	4	14	24
Fiji	4	6	9	6	19	24
Australia	1	1	2	3	4	16
Samoa	1	–	2	4	3	14
France	1	–	–	1	1	3
Argentina	–	2	1	1	3	9
England	–	4	5	2	9	18
Great Britain	–	1	–	–	1	1
United States	–	1	–	–	1	7
Kenya	–	–	1	–	1	3
Canada	–	–	–	1	–	4
Ireland	–	–	–	–	–	3
Wales	–	–	–	–	–	1

SVNS League Results

Summary of the top six placegetters for the regular season (since 2024):

Series	Season	Rds	Champion	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth
XXV	2023–24	8	^Argentina _{^{(106 pts)}}	Ireland	New Zealand	Australia	France	Fiji

Events won

List of legs won by each team since 1999.

Updated on 5 May 2024.

Legs won since 1999
Titles	Country	Last time
69	New Zealand	2024
44	Fiji	2022
41	South Africa	2023
19	England	2017
11	Samoa	2022
9	Argentina	2024
9	Australia	2022
3	United States	2019
3	France	2024
2	Scotland	2017
1	Canada	2017
1	Kenya	2016

Format

Rugby sevens is a fast-paced version of rugby union with seven players each side on a full-sized rugby field. Games are much shorter, lasting seven minutes each half. The game is quicker and faster-scoring than 15-a-side rugby, which explains part of its appeal. It also gives players the space for superb feats of individual skill. Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format. Currently, in a normal event, 16 teams are entered.

World Rugby operates satellite tournaments in each continent alongside the Sevens World Series which serve as qualifiers for Series events;^[13] in 2012–13 they also determined the entrants in the World Series Pre-Qualifier, and since 2013–14 determine the entrants in the Core Team Qualifier.^{[citation needed]}

In each tournament, the teams are divided into pools of four teams, who play a round-robin within the pool. Points are awarded in each pool on a different schedule from most rugby tournaments—3 for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss, 0 for a no-show. In case teams are tied after pool play, the tiebreakers are:^[65]

Head-to-head result between the tied teams.
Difference in points scored and allowed during pool play.
Difference in tries scored and allowed during pool play.
Points scored during pool play.
Coin toss.

As of the 2009–10 series, four trophies are awarded in each tournament. In descending order of prestige, they are the Cup, whose winner is the overall tournament champion, Plate, Bowl and Shield. Each trophy is awarded at the end of a knockout tournament.

In a normal event, the top two teams in each pool advance to the Cup competition. The four quarterfinal losers drop into the bracket for the Plate. The Bowl is contested by the third and fourth-place finishers in each pool, while the Shield is contested by the losing quarterfinalists of the Bowl.

A third-place match is now conducted between the losing Cup semifinalists in all tournaments; this was introduced for the 2011–12 series.^[66]

In 2012–13, the season-ending London Sevens expanded to 20 teams, with 12 competing for series points and eight involved in the Core Team Qualifier. With the promotion place now determined at the Hong Kong Sevens, the London Sevens returned to the traditional 16-team format in 2013–14.

The 2024 Rugby Perth Sevens features nine men’s and six women’s rounds over six months. The calendar includes stopovers in many of the usual destinations, from London to Langford, plus three new cities (Malaga, Seville and Toulouse) to replace traditional hosts Australia and New Zealand. ^[67]

Hong Kong 7s

The Hong Kong Sevens (an anomaly as a three-day event) is the most famous sevens tournament. The Hong Kong Sevens had 24 teams through the 2011–12 series, but has featured 28 teams since 2012–13, with 15 core teams and the winner of the HSBC Asian Sevens Series competing for series points. At the 2013 event, the remaining 12 teams were those in the World Series Pre-Qualifier;^[68] from 2014 forward, the remaining 12 teams are those in the Core Team Qualifier.^{[citation needed]} In Hong Kong, the Shield was awarded for the first time in 2010.^[69]

Originally, the six pool winners of the Hong Kong Sevens, plus the two highest-finishing second-place teams, advanced to the Cup.

In 2010 and 2011, a different system was used:^[70]

The losing quarterfinalists in the Cup competition contested the Plate competition.
The four remaining second-place teams and the four best third-place teams, which contested the Plate in previous years, competed for the Bowl.
The remaining eight teams in the competition, which contested the Bowl in previous years, competed for the Shield.

In the transitional year of 2012, the Hong Kong Sevens was split into two separate competitions. The 12 core teams competed for the Cup, Plate and Bowl under a format similar to that of a regular event. The 12 invited teams all competed for the Shield, with the top three sides in that competition also earning core status for 2012–13.

From 2013 on, the Hong Kong Sevens was played under the same 16-team format used in the rest of the series, with typically 15 core teams plus an invited team (for Hong Kong, usually the winner of the HSBC Asian Sevens Series) competing in the main draw of the tournament. In line with changes which began at the start of the 2016–17 World Rugby Sevens Series, the duration of the Cup final was reduced from 20 minutes to 14 minutes in 2017. In that season, the number of trophies was also reduced to two; the main Cup contested by the top eight teams from the pool stage, and a Challenge Trophy contested by the bottom eight teams from the pool stage.

Points schedule

The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. World Rugby introduced a new scoring system for the 2011–12 series, in which all teams participating in a tournament are guaranteed points. Initially, World Rugby announced the new points schedule only for the standard 16-team events; the allocations for the Hong Kong Sevens were announced later.^[66] A new scoring system was introduced in 2019–20 requiring teams to play for 7th, 11th and 15th places, previously teams had tied for 7th–8th 11th–12th and 15th–16th places.

The points schedule used at each standard event until 2023 is summarised below.

Place	Status	Points
	Cup winner, gold medalist	22
	Cup runner-up, silver medalist	19
	3rd-place winner, bronze medalist	17
4	3rd-place loser	15

5	5th-place winner	13
6	5th-place loser	12
7	7th-place winner	11
8	7th-place loser	10

9	9th-place winner	8
10	9th-place loser	7
11	11th-place winner	6
12	11th-place loser	5

13	13th-place winner	4
14	13th-place loser	3
15	15th-place winner	2
16	15th-place loser	1

From 2023–24 the following points schedule is used for each event:

Place	Status	Points
	Cup winner, gold medalist	20
	Cup runner-up, silver medalist	18
	3rd-place winner, bronze medalist	16
4	3rd-place loser	14

5	5th-place winner	12
6	5th-place loser	10
7	7th-place winner	8
8	7th-place loser	6

9	9th-place winner	4
10	9th-place loser	3
11	11th-place winner	2
12	11th-place loser	1

Tie-breaking: If two or more teams are level on overall series points, the following tie-breakers are used:^[65]

Overall difference in points scored and allowed during the season.
Total try count during the season.
If neither of the above produces a winner, the teams are considered tied.

Business

TV and media

The tour received 1,147 hours of air time in 2005–06; 530 of which was live, and was broadcast to 136 countries.^[71] By 2008–09, the hours of air time had increased to over 3,300, with 35 broadcasters airing the series in 139 countries and 15 languages.^[72] Broadcast time increased further in 2009–10, with 3,561 hours of air time (1,143 hours live) carried by 34 broadcasters in 141 countries and 16 languages.^[73] In 2010–11, 3,657 hours of coverage were aired (1,161 hours live), with the same number of broadcasters as the previous season but six new countries added. For that season, Sevens World Series programming was available in 332 million homes worldwide, with a potential audience of 760 million.^[74]

Sponsorship

The International Rugby Board reached a 5-year deal with HSBC in October 2010 that granted them status as the first-ever title sponsor of the Sevens World Series. Through the agreement, HSBC acquired title naming rights to all tournaments in the World Series, beginning with the Dubai Sevens on 3 December 2010.^[75] HSBC has since sub-licensed the naming rights to individual tournaments, while retaining its name sponsorship of the overall series. A renewed, 4-year deal was announced before the 2015–16 Series, this deal was also expanded to include the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.^[76]

Crowd cheering at the 2009 Hong Kong Sevens.

Tournament Naming Rights
Tournament	Sponsor
Sydney	HSBC
Dubai	Emirates Airline
South Africa	Cell C/Nelson Mandela Bay
New Zealand	Hertz
USA	No named sponsor
Hong Kong	Cathay Pacific/HSBC
Japan	No named sponsor
Scotland	Emirates Airline
London	Marriott

Player contracts and salaries

In the year after the International Olympic Committee announced in 2009 that rugby sevens would return to the Olympics in 2016, most of the "core teams" on the Series began offering full-time contracts to their players. These annual salaries can range from €18,000 to €100,000. England offers among the more generous salaries, ranging from an estimated €25,000 to over €100,000. New Zealand has a graded system with salaries ranging from €23,000-plus to about €52,500 for its four top earners. The basic salary for Scottish sevens players ranges from €22,500 to €40,000. The Australian sevens players are estimated to be on a basic salary of about €27,000-plus. Toward the bottom end of the scale is Ireland, offering its players a €18,000 to €23,750 development contract, less than minimum wage.^[77]

Player awards by season

Season	Rounds	Most points	Most tries^[78]	Player of the Year	Ref
1999–00	10	Waisale Serevi (684)	Vilimoni Delasau (83)	No award	^[79] ^[80]
2000–01	9	Damian Karauna (262)	Karl Te Nana (42)	No award	^[81] ^[82]
2001–02	11	Brent Russell (450)	Brent Russell (46)	No award	^[83] ^[84]
2002–03	7	Nasoni Roko (321)	Nasoni Roko (39)	No award	^[85] ^[86]
2003–04	8	Ben Gollings (394)	Fabian Juries & Rob Thirlby (39)	Simon Amor	^[87] ^[88]
2004–05	7	Orene Ai'i (308)	David Lemi (46)	Orene Ai'i	^[89] ^[90]
2005–06	8	Ben Gollings (343)	Timoteo Iosua (40)	Uale Mai	^[91] ^[92]
2006–07	8	William Ryder (416)	Mikaele Pesamino (43)	Afeleke Pelenise	^[93] ^[94]
2007–08	8	Tomasi Cama Jr. (319)	Fabian Juries (41)	DJ Forbes	^[95] ^[96]
2008–09	8	Ben Gollings (260)	Collins Injera (42)	Ollie Phillips	^[97] ^[98]
2009–10	8	Ben Gollings (332)	Mikaele Pesamino (56)	Mikaele Pesamino	^[99] ^[100]
2010–11	8	Cecil Afrika (381)	Cecil Afrika (40)	Cecil Afrika	^[101] ^[102]
2011–12	9	Tomasi Cama Jr. (390)	Matt Turner (38)	Tomasi Cama Jr.	^[103] ^[104]
2012–13	9	Dan Norton (264)	Dan Norton (52)	Tim Mikkelson	^[105] ^[106]
2013–14	9	Tom Mitchell (358)	Samisoni Viriviri (52)	Samisoni Viriviri	^[107] ^[108]
2014–15	9	Osea Kolinisau (312)	Seabelo Senatla (47)	Werner Kok	^[109] ^[110]
2015–16	10	Madison Hughes (331)	Seabelo Senatla (66)	Seabelo Senatla	^[111] ^[112]
2016–17	10	Perry Baker (285)	Perry Baker (57)	Perry Baker	^[113] ^[114]
2017–18	10	Nathan Hirayama (334)	Carlin Isles (49)	Perry Baker	^[115] ^[116]
2018–19	10	Andrew Knewstubb (307)	Carlin Isles (52)	Jerry Tuwai	^[117] ^[118]
2019–20	6	Napolioni Bolaca (159)	Jordan Conroy (30)	No award ^[119]	^[120] ^[121]
2021	2	Ronald Brown (91)	Muller du Plessis (13)	Marcos Moneta	^[122] ^[123] ^[124]
2021–22	9	Dietrich Roache (343)	Terry Kennedy (50)	Terry Kennedy	^[125] ^[126]
2022–23	9	Akuila Rokolisoa (415)	Vaa Apelu Maliko (50)	Rodrigo Isgro	^[127] ^[128]

Player records

Players in bold are still active.

Tries

Most career tries
Rank	Player	Nationality	Tries
1	Dan Norton	England	358
2	Perry Baker	United States	293
3	Collins Injera	Kenya	279
4	Tim Mikkelson	New Zealand	240
5	Seabelo Senatla	South Africa	230
5	Santiago Gómez Cora	Argentina	230
7	Ben Gollings	England	220
8	Carlin Isles	United States	217
9	Cecil Afrika	South Africa	179
9	Fabian Juries	South Africa	179

Updated: 1 July 2024

Points

Most career points
Rank	Player	Nationality	Points
1	Ben Gollings	England	2,652
2	Tomasi Cama	New Zealand	2,028
3	Nathan Hirayama	Canada	1,859
4	Dan Norton	England	1,804
5	Madison Hughes	United States	1,596
6	Tom Mitchell	England	1,595
7	Perry Baker	United States	1,467
8	Cecil Afrika	South Africa	1,462
9	Branco du Preez	South Africa	1,447
10	Collins Injera	Kenya	1,443