The Súper Liga Sudamericana is to start in March 2020, Sudamérica Rugby has confirmed. It comes despite earlier reports having noted that the South American Professional league would begin in 2021.

In an official announcement from Sudamérica Rugby today it has been confirmed that the competition will be known as the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) and will begin next year with six franchises from the region.

The competition is to be run under the central command of Sudamérica Rugby, the regional governing body for South and Central America. The competition also has the backing of World Rugby, the official global governing body.

The six competition teams for the 2020 season are to come from countries from within this region, with a further two sides to join the competition in 2021.

Suramérica Rugby President Sebastián Piñeyrúa declared that:

“For the growth of High Performance in the region, this kind of competition is fundamental, given that it will enable us to continue developing the game.”

In the 2020 SLAR all six teams will compete against one another over two rounds, giving it a home-and-away format of ten regular season rounds. Competition points are to be allocated per match with the top four sides qualifying for the Semi Finals and from there two will compete in the Final.

Unconfirmed in the announcement are who exactly the teams are going to be. What is, nonetheless, officially confirmed is that Uruguay’s two teams are to be from Montevideo and will be affiliated with the soccer clubs Nacional and Peñarol.

Argentina is expected to have two teams and interest has come from Córdoba, Rosario, and Tucumán but not from Buenos Aires. With the creation of the Jaguares XV it is hoped that players will be allured home from European lower divisions to compete in the SLAR.

Brazil is another country expected to field two teams in the competition. São Paulo looms as being the base for at least one of these sides. The second ham come from the south with Curitiba, and Florianópolis being logistically and historically notable options.

Paraguay is looking to field a side with it being based at the national rugby stadium in Asunción. Recently it was confirmed that Paraguay’s team will predominantly consist of Argentine players with Paraguay deemed to have ten players of the required level.

Also looking to be involved in the SLAR are Chile, and Colombia. The Universidad Católica club in Santiago has been identified as the potential team for the league with Medellín being the front-runner for a Colombian side.