The executive committee of World Rugby, the international body in charge of 15-a-side and 7-a-side rugby, voted on Tuesday, May 21 in Dublin for the integration of Algeria as an affiliate member
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 22, 2019/ -- The young Algerian rugby federation formed in 2015, and who joined Rugby Africa (www.RugbyAfrique.com) in December 2016 filed its application in 2018 with World Rugby (www.WorldRugby.org). After a favorable decision from the World Rugby Council last September, yesterday marked the last step in the process with the executive committee's vote. This was done and Algeria joined the members affiliated to World Rugby.

The President of the Algerian Rugby Federation, Abdelkader Sofian Ben Hassen, said: "Today is a historic day because we officially join as an associate member of World Rugby. We have worked hard to achieve this goal and I would like to thank Rugby Africa, who guided us, all the volunteers, educators, rugby club presidents, the national team players and staff, not to mention our private partners who believed in us from day one and of course our Board. And I thank our Minister of Sports for his trust and for allowing us to enter this great sport’s forum and the National Olympic Committee of Algeria for its exceptional support. Thank you all, we are on our way for new rugby adventures. “

"I extend my sincere congratulations to the Algerian Rugby Federation, which has achieved this milestone in record time. This is a well-deserved recognition of all the work done for many years by President Ben Hassen and his team. Beyond the FAR, it is also teamwork on a continental scale that pays today. My thanks also go to the former President and now Honorary President of Rugby Africa, Abdelaziz Bougja, who was a strong supporter of the Algerian file as well as to the technical team of Rugby Africa who supported the FAR in this process.” adds Rugby Africa President Khaled Babbou from Dublin.

Algeria surprised the world of African rugby by finishing as winners of the Bronze Cup in 2017 during their first participation and similarly by emerging winners of the Silver Cup in 2018 thus earning 7th place in the African rankings!

On May 16, the federation signed a historic convention with the Algerian Federation of School Sports to introduce rugby into schools from September 2019. The number of Algerian schoolchildren and students reached 12 million in the Algerian territory for the 2018/2019 school year, the growth potential of rugby is therefore very significant.

On May 3rd, during the visit of the officers of Rugby Africa, the FAR organized the final of the various competitions including a 7’s women's competition (U 14, U 16, U 18, senior), and another 7’s for men at (U 14 , U 16, U 18, seniors) then to 15’s (4 senior teams); all in the context of a fantastic rugby festival.

This goes to show that the ambitions of the FAR are multiple from development of the game on the Algerian territory for all young girls and boys to the excellence of its national teams on the world stage. As such, the Algerian rugby federation is already hard at work to be able to file its next application this time as a full member of World Rugby, the system that grants federations the opportunity to receive grants from the international body and the opportunity to qualify for the most prestigious international competitions.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Rugby Africa.