Rugby sevens will return to the Youth Olympic Games for the third time when some of the world’s most promising young players take to the field at Dakar 2026.
The Opening Ceremony is on 31 October and the rugby tournament kicks off at the 8,000-seat Complexe Iba Mar Diop the following day, with medals awarded on 2 and 3 November. Dakar 2026 is set to make history as the first Olympic sporting event to be staged on the African continent. Around 2700 young athletes are expected to compete across 25 competition sports.
Eight men’s and eight women’s rugby sevens teams have qualified for Dakar 2026, with the competitions featuring two pools of four teams.
Women’s competition:
Australia, China, Kenya and hosts Senegal will compete in Pool A, while Pool B features Czechia, Madagascar, Spain and USA.
Men’s competition:
Canada, Germany, Senegal and South Africa are together in Pool A whilst Argentina, France, Japan and Samoa make up Pool B.
Rugby sevens made its Youth Olympic Games debut at Nanjing 2014 before returning at Buenos Aires 2018. In Buenos Aires, hosts Argentina claimed the men’s gold medal with victory over France in the final, while New Zealand took the women’s title, also defeating France in the gold medal match. Japan and Canada won bronze in the men’s and women’s competitions respectively.
It will be all to play for in Senegal as teams take to the field in their bid to make their mark on the Olympic Stage.
More information on Dakar 2026 can be found at Olympics.com/en/dakar-2026.