Rugby union in Italy is governed by the

Italian Rugby Federation The Italian Rugby Federation () or FIR is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Italy. The FIR has one seat on the 28-member World Rugby Council, the governing body of World Rugby. (All other members of the Six Nations have two seats ...

. Rugby was introduced into

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in the early 1900s. It is also known as ''pallovale'' or ''palla ovale'' ("oval ball") within Italy. Two Italian professional teams (

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

and Zebre) compete in

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

, a league that also includes sides from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. One of the teams is guaranteed a place in the European Rugby Champions Cup; the other normally plays in the

European Rugby Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

. The Top12 is the main national club competition. Four Italian clubs from the national championship compete in a qualifying tournament that awards two places in the Challenge Cup.

competes in the

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

and

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

, and is classified as a tier one nation by

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

(formerly the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

Governing body

The governing body of Italian rugby union is the Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR). An original organisational committee was established in 1911, although it was in 1928 when the body became the FIR, and in 1987, it joined the

.Bath p68 In 1934 the FIR became a founding member of the Federation Internationale de Rugby Amateur.

Popularity

There are 1,024 rugby clubs within Italy. These clubs support 153,173 registered male players, as well as 8,118 registered female players. Many teams are either from

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

in the north of Italy as this area has the highest rugby popularity however the sport has achieved national presence as it is played and followed throughout the country. Rugby is now estimated to be the third most popular

team sport A team sport is a type of sport where the fundamental nature of the game or sport requires the participation of multiple individuals working together as a team, and it is inherently impossible or highly impractical to execute the sport as a s ...

in Italy behind

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. Italian players also play for other European rugby clubs, such as those in the Aviva Premiership.

History

Prehistory

The remote ancestry of rugby has been linked to a Roman game known as

harpastum , also known as , was a form of ball game played in the Roman Empire. The Romans also referred to it as the small ball game. The ball used was small (not as large as a , , or football-sized ball) and hard, probably about the size and solidity of ...

, which spread throughout their Empire, include the province of

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

writes: :''"Harpastum, which used to be called Phaininda, is the game I like most of all. Great are the exertion and fatigue attendant upon contests of ball-playing, and violent twisting and turning of the neck. Hence Antiphanes, "Damn it, what a pain in the neck I've got." He describes the game thus: "He seized the ball and passed it to a team-mate while dodging another and laughing. He pushed it out of the way of another. Another fellow player he raised to his feet. All the while the crowd resounded with shouts of Out of bounds, Too far, Right beside him, Over his head, On the ground, Up in the air, Too short, Pass it back in the scrum."''

Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (; September 129 – AD), often Anglicization, anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Ancient Rome, Roman and Greeks, Greek physician, surgeon, and Philosophy, philosopher. Considered to be one o ...

, in ''On Exercise with the Small Ball'', describes Harpastum as: :''"better than wrestling or running because it exercises every part of the body, takes up little time, and costs nothing",'' it was ''"profitable training in strategy"'', and could be ''"played with varying degrees of strenuousness".'' Galen adds, ''"When, for example, people face each other, vigorously attempting to prevent each other from taking the space between, this exercise is a very heavy, vigorous one, involving much use of the hold by the neck, and many wrestling holds."'' This game was apparently a

Romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

version of a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

game called phaininda. The general impression from ancient descriptions is of a game quite similar to rugby. Additional descriptions suggest a line was drawn in the dirt, and that the teams would endeavor to keep the ball behind their side of the line and prevent the opponents from reaching it. This seems rather like an 'inverted' form of football. If the opponents had the ball on their side of the line, the objective would seem to be to get in and "pass" it to another player, or somehow get it back over the line. Another remote Roman ancestor of rugby may be a game called trigon, which involved three players passing a ball to one another by hand. The ball was usually small and hard, but occasionally it was a ''follis'' or large bladder-ball. Italy is home to a number of forms of traditional football, some of which have features which are more similar to rugby, than to

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, such as handling the ball.Halpern, J. ''Balls and Blood'', in ''Sports Illustrated''. Vol 109, No. 4: 4 August 2008, p. 42. A prime example of this is '' Calcio Storico Fiorentino'' played in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. The ''Piazza Santa Croce'' of Florence is the cradle of this sport, that became known as ''giuoco del calcio fiorentino'' ("Florentine kick game") or simply ''calcio'' ("kick"). The first official rules of ''calcio fiorentino'' were recorded in 1580, although the game had been developing around Florence for some time before that date. The game involved teams of 27 kicking and carrying a ball in a giant sandpit set up in the Piazza Santa Croce in the centre of Florence, both teams aiming for their designated point on the perimeter of the sandpit.

Early history

British communities brought rugby to

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

between 1890 and 1895, with other games in Italy around 1909. The society that organised the first games dissolved soon after them. Italian rugby's traditional heartland consists of the small country towns in the

Po Valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (, , or ) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetian Plain, Venetic extension not actu ...

and other parts of

Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

.Bath, p69 Some believe that Italian workers returning from France, particularly the south, introduced the game and gave it a significant rural/working class base, which still exists in towns such as

and

Rovigo Rovigo (, ; ) is a city and communes of Italy, commune in the region of Veneto, Northeast Italy, the capital of the province of Rovigo, eponymous province. Geography Rovigo stands on the low ground known as Polesine, by rail southwest of Veni ...

. A demonstration game was also played in 1910 in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

between SCUF and Servette of

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. French students also introduced the game to Milan University c. 1911. While each of these events has been hailed as the "origin of Italian rugby", it seems that they probably happened more or less simultaneously and independent of one another, and that the introduction of rugby to Italy was a series of events, rather than a single starting point. Whatever the ultimate origins of the game in northern Italy, the region's proximity to the French rugby heartland helped as well. The first match played by a representative Italian XV was in 1911, between US Milanese and Voiron of France. On 25 July of the same year the "Propaganda Committee" was formed which in 1928 became the Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR). An original organisational committee was established in 1911, although it was in 1928 when the body became the FIR.

1920s and Fascist period

The national team played their first game in May 1929 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

where they lost 0-9 against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. A week later, a rematch was held in Milan, where Italy beat Spain 3-0. There was a further game in 1928 when Ambrosiana Milano beat R.C.T. Bucharest 15-3. The first Italian championship, won by Ambrosiana Milano, took place in 1929, with 6 of the 16 teams that existed in Italy. In 1934 the FIR became founding members of FIRA (Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur) along with the national teams of Italy,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 1936 Italy took part in the Fira European Tournament, in Berlin, along with France, Germany and Romania and in 1937, in Paris, along with France, Germany, Romania,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Rugby union spread to other parts of Italy, especially the cities of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

and

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. France was the first of the Championship countries to play Italy at senior level and the inaugural match took place in 1937, France winning 43-5. The

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

dictator

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

rebranded rugby union as ''palla ovale'' ("oval ball"), deciding it was an evolution of the Roman game

. The game was used as a vehicle for Fascist unity, and by 1927 rugby union had its own propaganda committee. However, Mussolini found rugby union inconveniently resistant to authority and dropped the sport, and for Fascist purposes turned to '' volata'', a malleable kind of

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

. Volata never caught on and in 1933 the effort was officially abandoned, however the invention of the game proved damaging to rugby union's popularity and place in Italian sporting culture. After the decline of the volata project, his supporters turned back to rugby in the years leading up to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as an alternative to soccer, which they saw as an effete English influence. However, despite this far right involvement, Italian rugby managed to escape too much of an association with the regime.

Post-war period

The Second World War interrupted Italian rugby union, as it did in other rugby-playing nations. Post-war, there was a desire to return to normality and Italian rugby union entered a new dimension thanks to the help of Allied troops in Italy. Very soon the

(

and

) came to assume a prominent position in the Italian rugby union scene earning the name "Republic of the Italian rugby union".

and

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...

also became main centres for rugby union. In the 1960s the Italian Rugby Union had their rival sport,

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

, hampered by threatening to ban rugby league players from playing rugby union for life.

1980s and 1990s

In the 1980s, a peculiar set of economic circumstances arose, which helped bolster the game further. In an effort to promote the game, sinking money into rugby became virtually tax-free, and large amounts of sponsorship money went into the game, from companies as large as Benetton which set up their own club sides. Benetton Treviso for example was able to use this money to produce a dramatic rise in standards. Players of Italian ancestry from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

were brought in, and the likes of Frano Botica,

David Campese David Ian Campese, AM (; born 21 October 1962), also known as Campo, is a former Australian rugby union player (1982–1996), who was capped by the Wallabies 101 times, and played 85 Tests at wing and 16 at fullback. He retired in 1996 and ...

, John Kirwan and

Michael Lynagh Michael Patrick Thomas Lynagh, (born 25 October 1963) is an Australian former rugby union player who played 66 tests at Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half and six tests at inside centre between 1984 and 1995. Lynagh was Cap (sport), capped 72 time ...

plied their trade in Italy's top flight. Although the rise in standards was not immediate, the influx of money helped buy in some top foreign coaches such as

Mark Ella Mark Gordon Ella, Order of Australia, AM (born 5 June 1959) is an indigenous Australian former rugby union footballer. Ella played at flyhalf, flyhalf/five-eighth and was capped by the Australia national rugby union team, Wallabies 25 times, capt ...

and Bernard Fourcarde, which allowed them to develop their own stars such as Massimo Giovanelli. This change for the better was reflected in their scorelines - for example, when the Italians played the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

in 1987, they were humiliated 70-6, but when the All Blacks played them in 1991, they found themselves winning only 31-21 in a highly competitive match. Italy narrowly lost to the Australians 23-20 in 1994 (who at time were world champions) The next week Italy were again competitive and Australia struggled to a 20-7 victory. Italian kickoff

In 1987, the Federazione Italiana Rugby joined the International Rugby Board (IRB), now known as

. That same year, the national side were invited to compete in the first Rugby World Cup in 1987. Italy had to wait until 1988 to play their first Test against a Home Nation. In 1995, the national side finally got their first victory over a home nation, against

, in a

warm up. In 1999, the domestic competition ran its 100th tournament, with Benetton Treviso winning the championship that year.

Present day

In 2000, Italy joined the Five Nations Championships, turning the competition into the

. In both the 2007 Six Nations and the 2013 Six Nations, Italy finished fourth, their best placing yet.

National team

The Italian national rugby union side have been playing international rugby since the late 1920s, and are categorized, by the

, as a tier one nation. They have competed in the

since 2000 and at all the

s. Italy's best result at a Rugby World Cup was at the 2007 tournament in France, where they won two of their four pool matches and lost by two points to

, narrowly missing the quarter-finals. On St. Valentine's Day 2010, Italy lost narrowly to England in Rome (12-17), further consolidating Italy's rise in international rugby, and this rise continued with a 22-21 victory over France on 12 March 2011. As of April 2024, the Italian national team is ranked 8th in the world, its joint highest ever ranking. 2011-03-12 Rugby ITA - FRA 6 Nations

Notable former Italian international players include: * Mauro Bergamasco * Mirco Bergamasco * Carlo Checchinato * Massimo Cuttitta * Diego Domínguez * Ivan Francescato * Massimo Giovanelli * Andrea Lo Cicero * Martín Castrogiovanni *

Sergio Parisse Sergio Francesco Parisse (; born 12 September 1983) is an Italian-Argentine former rugby union player. He is currently the lineout coach for French club Toulon. He played for the Italy national team from 2002 until the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Pari ...

* Salvatore Perugini * Alessandro Troncon * Paolo Vaccari Italy also has a national rugby sevens team.

Other tournaments

The World Rugby Nations Cup in

and World Rugby Tbilisi Cup in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

are tournaments involving the host teams and usually Tier One teams like Argentina XV and Emerging Italy and Tier Two teams like

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Nations Cup was first held in 2006.

Competitions

Domestic

Apart from the two Italian teams competing in the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

, European Rugby Champions Cup and

, the Top12 is the main competition for rugby union clubs in Italy. The competition was first contested in 1929, with six clubs. It was altered in 2002 to include just the top 10 sides of Italy, and was extended to twelve teams in 2012/13. The competition runs from September to May. After a home-and-away season, the top four teams play a knock-out competition to decide the championship. The winners are awarded the Albo d'Oro trophy. The current teams are: *

* Calvisano *

Fiamme Oro The Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Oro is the sport section of the Italian police force Polizia di Stato. The color of the competition jerseys of the athletes of the Fiamme Oro is crimson, therefore the athletes of the sports group are sometimes called ...

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

* Mogliano * Petrarca * Lyons Piacenza * Rovigo Delta * San Donà * Viadana Below the ''Top12'', domestic Italian rugby is played in the Campionati Nazionali which consists of:

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

: divided into 4 pools of 6 teams who play each other home and away Serie B: divided into 4 leagues of 12 teams who play each other home and away. Serie C1. Serie C2. An Under 19 Championship and a female competition also exist. The

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

is a knock-out competition for domestic clubs. The competition has been contested annually since 1967, though it was not held from 1974 to 1980, and 1983 to 1994, and again in 1996, 1999 and 2002. From 2010 it's renamed in Excellence Trophy.

European tournaments

Pro12

Two Italian sides,

and Aironi were admitted to the Pro12 on 8 March 2009, and started playing in the league from the 2010/11 season. The announcement by Celtic rugby followed a long period of negotiations and planning, starting with a tentative agreement in 2008 to admit two Italian sides. During 2009 the FIR organised a competition to choose which two sides would win the two places. This resulted in a team based in

winning one of the two places, despite the Italian rugby heartland being in the north. This decision was overturned after questions about the viability of the new franchise, with Treviso taking its place. Only after repeated assurances by the FIR of the ability of the two new sides to contribute financially to the league did Celtic rugby finally admit the two teams. For the 2012/13 season, Aironi left the Pro12, and was replaced by Zebre, a team based in Parma.

Heineken Cup and European Rugby Champions Cup

Italy fielded teams in the European knock-out competition, the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

, from its inception in 1995–96 through its final season of 2013–14. The Heineken Cup was an annual rugby union competition involving leading clubs, regional and provincial teams from the rest of the Six Nations: England, France, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Through the 2009–10 season, Italy usually had two to three clubs in the Heineken Cup. Starting with the 2010–11 season, Italy's two Pro12 sides automatically entered the Heineken Cup. Starting in 2014–15, the Heineken Cup has been replaced by the European Rugby Champions Cup. Italy is guaranteed one place in the Champions Cup; the Italian Pro12 team that finishes higher on the previous season's Pro12 table automatically qualifies. The second Italian Pro12 club can earn a Champions Cup place if it is one of the three highest-placed teams apart from the top team of each Pro12 country (Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Wales). Beginning with the 2014–15 season, the second Italian club has another path to the following season's Champions Cup—if it is one of the top two Pro12 teams that does not qualify for the Champions Cup, it will enter a play-off for a Champions Cup place that also involves the seventh-place sides from the English Premiership and

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

European Challenge Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup

The European Challenge Cup in rugby union, known as the Parker Pen Shield from 2001 to 2003, Parker Pen Challenge Cup from 2003 to 2005, and the Amlin Challenge Cup from 2009 to 2014, was the sister competition to the Heineken Cup. It was competed for by teams from England, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Romania (plus, in some years, Portugal and Spain) on a knock-out basis. Italy entered 4 clubs: those finishing 1st to 4th in the ''Eccellenza''. Clubs had previously competed in the European Shield, though that particular competition was restructured in 2005. Starting in the 2014–15 season, the original Challenge Cup was replaced by the

. Any Italian Pro12 team that does not qualify for the Champions Cup plays in the current Challenge Cup.

European Rugby Qualifying Competition

The introduction of the new European club competition structure for 2014–15 will see the creation of a completely new third-tier competition, the Qualifying Competition. The structure has not yet been announced, but it will involve the top four teams from the ''Eccellenza'' plus club sides from second-tier European rugby nations. These sides will compete for two places in the Challenge Cup.

References

* Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) * Richards, Huw ''A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union'' (Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 2007, )