Countries 36 | ||
Date September 2016 – May 2017 | ||
The 2016–17 Rugby Europe International Championships is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations. The 2016–17 season is the first of its new format and structure, where all Levels play on a one-year cycle, replacing the old format of a two-year cycle, with the teams playing each other both home and away.
For all teams competing, except the Development league, this year's edition of the Rugby Europe International Championships doubles as the 2019 Rugby World Cup qualifiers for the European region, where the winner of the Championship, excluding Georgia, automatically qualifies to the tournament as Europe 1. All other teams remains in contention, playing in their respective leagues, but also playing in World Cup play-offs, for the right to play in the Europe/Oceania play-off against Oceania 3.
Countries
Pre-tournament World Rugby rankings (from November 28 for Championship, from August 29 for all other levels) in parentheses
Notes
^a Due to financial instability, Turkey has cancelled all matches for the 2016-17 season and is no longer part of World Cup Qualifying.