The European Shield is a rugby league football competition. The competition is organised by the Rugby League European Federation and is designed to promote the sport of rugby league in Central Europe and Eastern Europe. It was first officially held in 2007, though its precursor - the Central Europe Development Tri-Nations - was held the year prior.
2006
The inaugural Central Europe Development Tri-Nations rugby league competition was held in 2006. This competition is organised by the Rugby League European Federation and is designed to promote the sport of rugby league in Central Europe. The competition, contested by Austria, Germany and Estonia, was won by Germany.
This is the first time the European Shield took place. Germany and the Czech Republic had little experience having only played a few games beforehand. Serbia were a little more experienced taking players from their domestic league, the Serbian Championship. The shield was hailed as a success in promoting rugby league in the three countries, attendances were good and the players gathered more experience.
In early 2008 it was announced that Italy had replaced Serbia in the European Shield. Serbia were elevated to a higher level with Russia and Lebanon after easily winning the 2007 shield and doing well in the World Cup qualifying matches. Italy were one of the newest European nations to adopt rugby league with the Veneto 9s the only RL tournament in the country at the time.
The 2009 Shield featured the same teams as participated in 2008. In the 2009 fixture, Italy became the first nation to win back-to-back European Shields. As a result they were drafted into the 2009 European Cup, following Russia's withdrawal from that competition. The Czech Republic also reached a milestone, recording their first win in the competition, beating Germany 30 - 4.
For the 2010 fixture, the field was doubled from three teams to six. In the Eastern group, Russia topped the table by defeating Latvia and Ukraine. Serbia took the Western group title by defeating both Germany and Czech Republic.[1]
The competition reverted to a three-team format in 2011, with most of the nations from the 2010 competition taking part in qualifying for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup. Two new teams, Malta and Norway were promoted to the competition having contested the European Bowl in 2010. Germany claimed their first Shield triumph by virtue of points difference after all teams recorded one win.
The new European Shield new format will be held over 2 years with each team playing at home and away. The teams involved are the 2010 East and West Champions (Russia and Serbia) will compete along with the 2011 Champions (Germany), they will be joined by the 2013 World Cup qualifier (Italy).
Russia (2010)
Serbia (2010)
Italy (2008, 2009), 
Germany (2006, 2011)
Austria
Estonia
Czech Republic
Ukraine
Malta