Sand, surf and year-round sunshine define the Canary Islands' reputation, and sport here has long meant football or watersports. Yet rugby has been taking root across the archipelago for four decades, and its profile is rising faster than at any point in its Canarian history.

Built on a University Campus

The story begins at the University of La Laguna in Tenerife, where the Club de Rugby Universidad de La Laguna was founded in 1986 from an interfaculty competition called the Trofeo Rector. 

The sport spread to Gran Canaria, and in December 1993, the Federación Canaria de Rugby was constituted, and the Liga Territorial Canaria was launched the following year with six clubs. 

The 2000s brought the game to Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, with Lanzarote winning the league shortly after establishing themselves.

The Club Game Today

The federation's Rugby X competition, the Circuito Canario, was designed to help smaller clubs field competitive sides and attract new players, with four clubs contesting the Liga XV and six entering the ten-a-side circuit. 

January 2025's final saw Lanzarote beat Mahoh Fuerteventura 14-5 at the Campo de Las Torres. 

While a world away from the Rugby World Cup 2027, that Lanzarote squad, with players carrying Argentine, New Zealand, Belgian and Uruguayan flags alongside Spanish ones, captures what the game here has become. 

In February 2026, Santa Cruz de Tenerife got its first rugby club, currently a youth school for under-tens with ambitions to eventually field a senior side.

An Elite Destination

Alongside the domestic game, the archipelago has built a growing reputation as a warm-weather training base, with winter temperatures of 19°C, minimal rainfall, and quick access to altitude via the volcanic terrain, making a strong case for professional squads. 

In late 2025, Spain's sevens coach Paco Hernández brought the Leones to La Palma for three weeks ahead of the HSBC SVNS 2026 opener in Dubai, citing conditions that allowed his squad to complete their full programme without modification. 

The Canary Islands tourism authority is now marketing this appeal to elite squads with LA 2028 in its sights.

More Than a Holiday Destination

Rugby's growth here is part of a broader shift in how the islands present themselves through sport, with the same infrastructure drawing cyclists and triathletes now pulling in rugby squads from across Europe. 

For clubs on the ground, the challenge is turning that visibility into players and young people picking up the ball. Club de Rugby Santa Cruz, with its under-tens and ambitions of a senior future, represents that challenge as well as anything.