Spain national rugby league team
| Team information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Governing body | Asociación Española de Rugby League | |
| Region | Europe | |
| Head coach | Darren Fisher | |
| Captain | Aitor Davila | |
| IRL ranking | 26th | |
| Uniforms | ||
| ||
| Team results | ||
| First international | ||
 Spain 12–10 Belgium  (Brussels, 25 May 2014) | ||
| Biggest win | ||
 Greece 4–76 Spain (Athens, 17 October 2015) | ||
| Biggest defeat | ||
Spain 16–32 Germany  (Valencia, 6 June 2015) | ||
The Spain national rugby league team represents Spain in the sport of rugby league football, running under the auspices of the Asociación Española de Rugby League.
History
The first rugby league in Spain was played in the region of Catalonia in 2009, with a Catalonia national rugby league team playing several matches against European nations. However, desiring to represent only Catalonia and not the entirety of Spain, the Catalonia team was denied RLEF membership and disappeared from international competition shortly afterwards.
Rugby league in Spain began once again in 2013, with a national body (Asociación Española de Rugby League) being formed and admitted to the RLEF by the end of that year. [1] The first Spanish domestic competition kicked off in 2013 with clubs based in the Valencian Community, and the national team played its first match on May 25, 2014, [2] defeating Belgium in Brussels. The first captain was Aitor Davila and the first Spanish try at international level was scored by Gonzalo Morro. [3]
2017 Rugby League World Cup
Qualifying
On the 9th of May 2015, Spain and Latvia kicked off proceedings for the qualifying fixtures for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying. It was a do or die match with the winner advancing to a qualifying group stage, already containing Malta and Greece, while the other would lose their chance of qualifying for their first ever World Cup. The Spaniards were the better team, winning the match by 20 points which therefore made them advance to the European C qualifying group stage. The team ended up winning the tournament and now advance to the final round robin tournament. [4]
2014 squad
| Official rankings as of December 2024 | |||
| Rank | Change | Team | Pts % |
| 1 |  |
 Australia |
100 |
| 2 | |
 New Zealand |
86 |
| 3 | |
 England |
84 |
| 4 |  1 |
 Tonga |
63 |
| 5 |  1 |
 Samoa |
54 |
| 6 | 1 |
 Papua New Guinea |
53 |
| 7 | 1 |
 Fiji |
44 |
| 8 | |
 France |
30 |
| 9 | 2 |
 Serbia |
23 |
| 10 | |
 Cook Islands |
22 |
| 11 | 1 |
 Netherlands |
22 |
| 12 | 5 |
 Wales |
18 |
| 13 | 2 |
 Malta |
17 |
| 14 | 6 |
 Ukraine |
13 |
| 15 | 1 |
Greece |
12 |
| 16 | 7 |
 Lebanon |
12 |
| 17 | 4 |
 Italy |
11 |
| 18 | 2 |
 Ireland |
9 |
| 19 | 1 |
 Jamaica |
8 |
| 20 | 1 |
 Czech Republic |
8 |
| 21 | 2 |
 Chile |
8 |
| 22 | 3 |
 Scotland |
7 |
| 23 | 4 |
 Philippines |
7 |
| 24 | 7 |
 United States |
7 |
| 25 | 1 |
 Poland |
5 |
| 26 | 2 |
 South Africa |
5 |
| 27 | 5 |
Germany |
5 |
| 28 | 3 |
 Norway |
5 |
| 29 | 4 |
 Brazil |
4 |
| 30 | 4 |
 Kenya |
4 |
| 31 | 10 |
 Canada |
4 |
| 32 | |
 Montenegro |
4 |
| 33 | 2 |
 North Macedonia |
3 |
| 34 | 15 |
 Argentina |
3 |
| 35 | 5 |
 Albania |
2 |
| 36 | |
 Bulgaria |
2 |
| 37 | 7 |
 Ghana |
2 |
| 38 | 9 |
 Nigeria |
2 |
| 39 | 5 |
 Turkey |
1 |
| 40 | 3 |
 Cameroon |
1 |
| 41 | 2 |
 Japan |
1 |
| 42 | 4 |
Spain |
1 |
| 43 | 1 |
 Colombia |
1 |
| 44 | 1 |
 El Salvador |
0 |
| 45 | |
 Russia |
0 |
| 46 | 1 |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina |
0 |
| 47 | 3 |
 Hong Kong |
0 |
| 48 | 3 |
 Solomon Islands |
0 |
| 49 | 8 |
 Vanuatu |
0 |
| 50 | |
 Niue |
0 |
| 51 | 1 |
 Latvia |
0 |
| 52 | 2 |
 Denmark |
0 |
| 53 | 2 |
Belgium |
0 |
| 54 | 4 |
 Estonia |
0 |
| 55 | 9 |
 Sweden |
0 |
| 56 | 12 |
 Morocco |
0 |
| 57 | 9 |
 Hungary |
0 |
| Complete rankings at INTRL.SPORT | |||
| First team squad | Coaching staff | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Head coach
Updated: 24 May 2014 | |||||||
National Team Results
| Date | Venue | Home | Result | Away | Crowd | Competition | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 October 2015 | Athens | Greece
|
4-76 | Spain
|
2017 RLWC qualifying | Report | |
| 26 September 2015 | Valencia | Spain
|
40-30 | Malta
|
2017 RLWC qualifying | Report | |
| 19 September 2015 | Muro de Alcoy | Spain
|
36-24 | Italy B
|
1200 | International Friendly | Report |
| 6 June 2015 | Valencia | Spain
|
16-32 | Germany
|
International Friendly | Report | |
| 9 May 2015 | Riga | Latvia
|
12-32 | Spain
|
150 | 2017 RLWC qualifying | Report |
| 8 June 2014 | Moncada | Spain
|
54-10 | Belgium
|
International Friendly | Report | |
| 25 May 2014 | Neder-Over-Heembeek | Belgium
|
10-12 | Spain
|
International Friendly | Report |
All-Time Results Record
| Team | 1st Played | Play | Win | Draw | Loss | Points For | Points Agn. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium |
2014 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 20 |
| Latvia |
2015 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 12 |
| Germany |
2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 32 |
| Malta |
2015 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 30 |
| Greece |
2015 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 76 | 4 |
World Cup
| World Cup record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | L | D | ||
| 2017 |
Currently in qualification process | |||||||
| Total | 0 Titles | 0/13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Honours
European Bowl: 2015
See also
References
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