Super Rugby Americas

SLAR logo up to 2023.

SLAR was first announced in April 2019,[7] with plans of forming between six and eight professional franchises, two each in Uruguay and Brazil, meanwhile Argentina and Chile were to get a franchise each with plans to add two teams in 2021 with an additional team in Argentina and one from Paraguay. In November, SLAR's plans changed to a league of seven clubs, two each in Brazil and Uruguay with one team each in Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay.[8] Officially sanctioned by Sudamérica Rugby, which is consequently part of World Rugby, the league was officially launched in November 29, 2019.[9]

At the official announcement, SLAR confirmed the number of the teams for the 2020 season was be at five[10] for the regular season due to the economic issues but SLAR was expected to be expanded at some point in the future, possibly in 2021. Cafeteros Pro (Colombia) joined at the end of the regular season to play a home and away series against the 5th-place finisher in the 2020 season before joining the league full-time.

The tournament could be played without problems in 2021 and 2022. During 2022, there were already ideas to carry out a joint competition between the franchises that contested the SLAR and teams from North America. During the season, the Challenge Cup of the Americas, a friendly rugby cup, was played on an experimental way.

As it is a competition with franchises, the impact of the SLAR was in doubt. According to South American specialists, the success achieved by the tournament was relative[11] but after various requests from institutions to join and participate in a larger tournament, World Rugby requested the expansion of the format towards a more ambitious and regional competition.

Once the news was released, Wenceslao Tejerina, High Performance Manager for Chile, announced that they were working on a new tournament.[12] After the announcement of the new contest, the Uruguayan Sebastián Piñeyrúa, director of the South American entity, issued the following statement: "Due to the success obtained in the American Rugby Super League in the two full seasons of 2021 and 2022, from South America Rugby, SLAR organizers, we are in the middle of negotiations with national unions in North and Central America, to plan the future growth of Rugby in the continent, for this reason, we are working with all the member unions and franchises participating in SLAR 2022, to plan and develop future competitions, by franchises and international. On October 27, the format will be presented and details of the new professional competition of the Americas will be given".[13]

In this way, after efforts by Sudamérica Rugby and World Rugby, the emergence of Super Rugby Americas was announced in October 2022, a tournament that will also be organized by USA Rugby and Rugby Canada, which will include most of the clubs that competed in SLAR 2022 with the addition of franchises from the United States and Canada.

According to the High Performance Manager of South America Rugby, Daniel Hourcade, the Unión Argentina de Rugby will also incorporate more franchises in the next editions of the new league.[14]

There are seven teams confirmed for the 2023 Super Rugby Americas season.[19][15]

American Raptors

Cobras

Yacare XV

Peñarol

Dogos XV

Pampas XV

Selknam

Locations of the 2023 Super Rugby Americas teams

Country	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Joined	Coach	Former names
ARG	Dogos XV	Córdoba	Tala Rugby Club	6,000	2020 [upper-alpha 1]	Nicolás Galatro	Ceibos (2020)
ARG	Pampas	Buenos Aires	CASI	5,000	2023	Ignacio Fernández Lobbe	–
BRA	Cobras	São Paulo	Estádio Nicolau Alayon	9,660	2020	Josh Reeves	Corinthians (2020)
CHI	Selknam	Santiago	Estadio Municipal de La Pintana	5,000	2020	Nicolás Bruzzone	—
PAR	Yacare XV	Asunción	Estadio Héroes de Curupayty	3,000	2020	Ricardo Le Fort	Olimpia Lions (2020–22)
URU	Peñarol	Montevideo	Estadio Charrúa	14,000	2020	Pablo Bouza	–
USA	American Raptors	Glendale, CO	Infinity Park	5,000	2023	Sarah Chobot	Glendale Raptors, Colorado Raptors (MLR)

• Notes:

On 10 November 2020, Colombia formalized professional rugby. The South American nation’s first professional rugby team was Cafeteros Pro. The team entered the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) in 2021.[20]

On 6 January 2021, UAR replaced the Córdoba based team Ceibos with the Jaguares XV, following the Jaguares' departure from Super Rugby.[21][22]

On 4 February 2021, the Brazilian side in the competition was renamed Cobras Brasil XV, dropping their affiliation with the Corinthians multi-sport club.[23]

On 13 December 2022, SLAR confirmed the replacement of Cafeteros Pro, with the reintroduction of Córdoba based team Dogos XV, in the past Ceibos.[24]

On 22 December 2022, Super Rugby Americas confirmed more news; first the return of Argentine Pampas XV in substitution of Jaguares XV, second the participation of American Raptors, third the rebranded of Paraguayan team from Olimpia Lions to Yakarés XV in order to indicate that relationship between the Paraguayan Rugby Union and the soccer team Club Olimpia is ended.[25]

At the initial announcement, Brazil and Uruguay were originally slated to have two team each, but instead one team each (Corinthians and Peñarol) went on to play in the 2020 season, meaning it may be possible for the two countries to expand in the future (Club Nacional de Football was hinted at as a possibility in Uruguay)[8] besides a possible Mexican team or a second Chilean team.[26][27] With the possible change of Super Rugby to a Trans-Tasman (Australasian) competition, Argentina could add a second team, the Jaguares, based in Buenos Aires, in 2021.[28][29][20] In November 2020, another new team was proposed for 2021, with Sudamérica Rugby officially expressing interest in the inclusion of a second Argentine Buenos Aires–based team in the 2021 SLAR.[30] However, a second Argentine team did not play in 2021 and most Argentine players would leave the team either for overseas, or to enter the draft for the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby season.[31] In October 2022, it was confirmed that the Argentine team Tucumán would replace the Colombian team Cafeteros Pro and that two North American franchises, the Canadian Pacific Pride and U.S. American Raptors, were going to participate in this new tournament renamed Super Rugby Americas.[32][33] In June 2023, after losing its bid for 2022, Tucumán, plus Salta and Santiago del Estero, renewed their request to enter in the tournament in order to have 3 Argentine franchises.[34]

Nat.	Team	City	Stadium	Joined	Left
	Ceibos	Córdoba	Tala Rugby Club Stadium	2020	2021 [n 1]
	Jaguares XV	Buenos Aires	José Amalfitani	2021	2022
	Corinthians	São Paulo	(none)	2020	2021 [n 1]
	Cafeteros Pro	Medellín	(none)	2020 [n 2]	2022
	Olímpia Lions	Asunción	Estadio Héroes de Curupayty	2020	2022

Notes