Brazil win on home soil to secure World Championship status

HSBC SVNS World Championship places were on the line all way until the 90th, and final, match of the 2026 HSBC SVNS 2 season.

In São Paulo, Brazil harnessed the support of the home crowd to claim the final women’s spot at World Championship events in Hong Kong, Valladolid and Bordeaux.

It took until As Yaras’ winner-takes-all clash with Kenya at Estadio Nicolau Alayon to dictate which of the teams had three more tournaments to play in this season.

With home support at their back, Camilla Carvalho and Thalia Costa each scored a brace in the 24-12 win, and in turn stamped their World Championship ticket.

Over the weekend Crystal Kaua’s team had impressed with wins against China, Argentina and Spain. Their Day 1 loss to South Africa was merely a blip.

Finishing second in the tournament means that Kenya missed out on a top four spot by two points. A third-place finish in São Paulo meant Spain finished second in the overall standings, Argentina topped the pile after three events and Cecil Afrika’s South Africa placed third.

Things were slightly different in the men’s competition, where Uruguay beat Belgium 24-19 in the opening match of Day 2 and secured their place at the World Championship alongside USA, Germany and Kenya, who qualified on Day 1.

A loss to Uruguay was Belgium’s only blemish that weekend. Over two days Jeff Williams’ team registered wins against USA, Kenya, Germany and Canada in a vastly impressive series of performances.

The Europeans were secured claimed gold for their efforts, while the USA could only name 10 players in their final match and Germany only had seven fit players.

Belgium’s Ryan Godsmark, who was named Player of the Tournament for his efforts, said: “[I’m] really pleased, firstly with the result for the team and what we’ve achieved.

“It’s the cherry on top to be identified as the player of the tournament, but there’s a lot of individuals who played well and put their hand up – I think I’m just the lucky one to be selected.”

Now all eight qualified teams will begin preparing for the three-tournament World Championship which starts in three weeks time in Hong Kong.

SVNS 2 qualifiers USA, Germany, Kenya and Uruguay will join the eight main SVNS Series men’s sides – South Africa, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, France, Argentina, Spain and Great Britain.

In the women’s competition Argentina, Spain, South Africa and Brazil have all qualified alongside core sides New Zealand, Australia, USA, France, Canada, Fiji, Japan and Great Britain.