Uruguay gear up for new Super League

URUGUAY, give or take a couple of players based in France, were the only truly amateur team at RWC2015 but that is in the process of changing and their squad for RWC2019 will be pretty much full time.

The first step, taken last month, has been the formation of a full professional Academy at the High Performance Centre in the Estadio Charrúa which will consist of 15 top Uruguay players, all of who were involved in their successful World Cup qualifying campaign.

Most of the standout performers from that campaign – Rodrigo Silva, below, Gaston Mieres, Santiago Arata, Ignacio Dotti, Mateo Sanguinetti – are included in the group and have initially signed on a oneyear contract which will be renewed at the end of the year. The plan is to extend that number in 2019, World Cup year.

You don’t have to be on one of these central contracts to play for Uruguay – players are free to remain amateur and pursue careers and studies – but there is now the option to devote more time to rugby. There remain five or six players also playing professionally in France.

And the creation of that centrally contacted core group could be even more important if advanced plans to establish a professional South American Super League come to fruition, which looks almost certain.

Already the initial plans to form eight professional teams has been expanded to ten with Argentina expected to contribute four, Uruguay and Brazil two each with Chile and now Paraguay being awarded one franchise each. The two Uruguay franchises will almost certainly be based around two of Montevideo’s best known football clubs, Nacional and Peñarol.

The centrally contracted players would be available for either of the two clubs during the SuperLeague season which will be scheduled to avoid the international windows.