NAIROBI, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Africa Rugby has agreed to expand the continental Gold Cup tourney in the 15s game from six teams to eight starting from the 2019 season.
Abdelaziz Bougja, the Africa Rugby president, said in a statement on Monday that with increased competition and growth of the sport, Africa is ready to have its premier league contested with more teams.
The news comes as a boost to Zambia who had lost 31-0 in the Silver Cup against Algeria on Oct. 20.
Both Algeria and Zambia will join Africa champions Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Morocco in the top tier next season.
Aziz said the decision was taken at the last meeting held in Tunisia to increase the number of teams participating in next year's games to eight.
"As you know, Zambia beat Botswana and Madagascar in the Silver Cup South region while Algeria were top from the North region having beaten Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal. So in this regard is was not a difficult decision to make," said Bougja.
Namibia, who are the Africa champions, have since qualified for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan while Kenya, which is second ranked in the continent will play in the World Cup Repechage in Marseille, France, against Canada, Germany and China's Hong Kong.
"I watched the Zambia Sevens team win the Africa Men's Sevens tournament in Tunisia and I could see a great future for them. So watching Zambia's 15s team, I believe they will give us a better understanding of good governorship," said Bougja.
Two-time world champions South Africa is the only team from the continent that does not compete in the Gold Cup because its senior team is ranked among the top in the world and meets other giants like Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, England and France in the Test Nations League.