Santiago, Valparaíso and Montevideo will host the 2021 Superliga Americana de Rugby (SLAR). The announcement confirms that the competition will see matches played in two Chilean venues and one Uruguayan venue.
The Chilean venues will be the Estadio Municipal de La Pintana in Santiago and the Estadio Elías Figueroa in Valparaíso. They will play host to the first and second sections of the SLAR season. The third will be played at Montevideo’s Estadio Charrúa. All three venues have hosted test rugby.
The Estadio Charrúa has also been selected to host the play-offs. The fourth section of the SLAR season will include semi finals and the SLAR Final. The Uruguayan venue is located close to the Rio de la Plata. On the other hand, the Estadio Elías Figueroa is located very close to the Pacific Ocean.
The Estadio Charrúa seats 14,000 supporters. The Estadio Elías Figueroa seats 22,000 and the Estadio Municipal de La Pintana. The matches will be played behind closed doors has a capacity of 5,000.
The 2021 SLAR season will begin on March 16. The match schedule is presently being finalized. It will be released to the public on March 05.
The 2021 SLAR season is to be the second. The inaugural season was ended early; the global pandemic meant that there were only three matches played. They were Peñarol vs Selknam in Montevideo; Los Ceibos vs Olímpia Lions in Córdoba; and Selknam vs Los Ceibos in Santiago.
The 2021 SLAR season sees an increase from five to six teams. Los Cafeteros Pro (Colombia) will debut in the competition, giving Colombia its first taste of professional rugby. Jaguares XV (Argentina) replace Los Ceibos as Argentina’s team and Cobras (Brazil) take the place of Corinthians Rugby. The trio of Selknam (Chile), Olímpia Lions (Paraguay), and Peñarol (Uruguay) all return.