Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy 2026 – West & Central Tournament Guide

rugbyasia247 Posted On November 5, 2026

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Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy Sevens 2026 – West & Central Tournament Guide

Jordan will host the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy 2026 – West & Central at Ayla Oasis, Aqaba, from 6-7 November. We look at the teams, pools, and other news for the tournament.

It’s always great to see the tournaments spread to new regions and more teams involved. Nine nations (9 Men’s and 5 Women’s national teams) are set to compete in Jordan over two days – it will be the first time Jordan hosts an Asia Rugby sevens tournament.

Asia Rugby said, “Jordan Rugby stepped forward and was awarded the hosting rights, ensuring that participating unions retain an important opportunity to compete and progress.”

Feisal Al-Sadoun, President of Jordan Rugby, said via Asia Rugby, “Hosting the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy for the first time is a proud milestone for Jordan and an important step in our ambition to make the Kingdom a destination for international sport. Bringing 14 national teams from nine countries to Aqaba is about more than rugby.

It is a chance to connect nations, support tourism and share Jordan’s culture, hospitality and Aqaba’s remarkable Red Sea setting with visitors from across Asia.” He explained that the tournament has been delivered in 8 weeks after an “extraordinary collective effort.

You can watch and listen as our Editor Steve Noble speaks with Saner Hasan from All Things Rugby about the tournament and other Asian rugby news. ATR will be on the ground at the tournament.

Are Regional Pathways Flawed?

Asia Rugby Competitions Committee Chairperson Asanga Seneviratne said, “The Trophy is an important part of Asia Rugby’s competition pathway, giving emerging teams meaningful international competition and the opportunity to earn promotion to the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Series.”

On that, we dont disagree, but the qualification based on sub-regional winners has its flaws.

Asia Rugby confirmed that the respective women’s and men’s winners of the upcoming Trophy Series West & Central (Jordan) and South, South East & East (Chinese Taipei) will earn promotion to the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Series 2027.

This is due to the region now having three subregions: CASA, SEARF, and WARA, and there are ongoing discussions about tournament pathways for future competitions in 7s and XVs.

In this instance, for example, both the Philippines and Chinese Taipei Men, who were both relegated from the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Series last season, will feature in the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy 7s 2026 – South, South East & East to be hosted by Chinese Taipei, but only the winner can earn promotion back to the top tier. For the Women, it was the Philippines and Indonesia who were relegated last season, and both will probably feature in Taiwan too.

Most likely, all four of those national teams would beat all of the teams set to appear in the West & Central tournament, so this subregional pathway system has its flaws and can’t be implemented Asia-wide, as there needs to be weighting towards regions or tournaments with clearly stronger teams.

Keep in mind that the teams relegated from this season’s ARESS 2026 were Sri Lanka Women & Iran Women and India & Uzbekistan Men – all four would likely be in the West & Central Trophy Event in 2027.

Confirmed Squads & Pools – Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy Sevens 2026 – West & Central

Confirmed Pools - Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy Sevens 2026 – West & Central

We will update these as they are announced and become available. Apologies where no English squad lists are made available.

Men’s Pool A

Saudi Arabia
Lebanon
Oman
Syria
Pakistan

Men’s Pool B

Jordan
Iraq
Bahrain
Kyrgyzstan

Women’s Pool C

Jordan
Lebanon
Syria
Iraq
Saudi Arabia

Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy Sevens 2026 – West & Central Tournament

We will update the squads as they are made public.

Iraq Women & Men’s 7s

Zayna Muhannad is the captain of the Iraqi Womens 7s team and said via their socials that they are working to achieve positive results in the tournament.

“Our ambition is great to achieve positive results in the Asian Championship, and we are working with exceptional effort to reach the best possible level, but our team needs more support, as rugby is a team sport and requires special preparation and an integrated training program.

“All members of the Iraqi Rugby Federation are working like bees to achieve the best and develop the level of Iraqi national teams, and we as players appreciate these efforts and strive to translate them into positive results on the field.”

The team is coached by Mustafa Abed Hassan.

Rian Hamah Ali
Wurood Kababi
Alanood Al-Hilfi
Rozan Hama Ali
Zinah Saleem
Rahmah Mahmood
Nisreen Hassoon
Savya Dawoodi
Shnyar Rashid
Maryam Al-Azzawi
Diya Hussein
Shams Alfellah

Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy Sevens 2026 – West & Central - Iraq Women 7s

Mohammed Challab Idan Almasoodi is the Iraq Men’s 7s Head Coach, and he has announced his squad.

Mustafa Mshari
Andres Romero
Muntadher Al-Musawi
Hasan Challabi
Omar Fadhil
Mohammed Hasan
Sarmad Masod
Abo Alhasan Al-Baidhani
Naser Al-Maliki
Reben Marouf
Omar Al-Khafaji
Mustafa Hasan

Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy Sevens 2026 – West & Central - Iraq men 7s

Lebanon Women’s and Men’s 7s Squads

Women

Tala Mansour
Priscilla Maalouf
Gabrielle Souaiby
Lynn Deeba
Lama Abousalem
Stephanie Elias
Julia Zaydan
Tara Moubarak
Lynn Karam
Maria Nakhoul
Lara Cherry
Yara Sharara

Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy Sevens 2026 – West & Central - Lebanon women 7s

Men

Michael Medlej
Omar Arnous
Mike Tawk
Ibrahim Akar
Walid Nsouli
Laurent Zaloum Captain
Gianni Hammoudeh
Nabil Arabi El Eter
Hassan Al Jammal
Muhammad Akar
Talal Nsouli
Cyril Irani

Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy Sevens 2026 – West & Central - Lebanon men 7s

Syria Women’s and Men’s 7s Squads

Syria Women’s Rugby posted online about the preparations: “To ensure peak performance and readiness for this major continental challenge, our squad will begin their preparation journey with a closed training camp under the supervision of the head coach in Damascus starting on October 27th.

The preparation phase will then continue across the border in Jordan starting on November 3rd, leading up to the tournament.”