The Rugby World Cup Sevens will take place in Africa for the first time in its history after South Africa was awarded hosting rights for the tournament in 2022.

The announcement was made on Tuesday by the World Rugby Council at its interim meeting in Tokyo, Japan.

The tournament will be staged in September 2022 at the 55,000-seater Cape Town Stadium in Green Point. The stadium has also served as the venue for the African leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series for the last four years.

South Africa beat 11 other countries that expressed interest in hosting the tournament.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont congratulated South Africa on its victory noting that the sport's governing body was impressed with South Africa's detailed and comprehensive bid.

"South Africa has a proven track record of delivering a sell-out event in the HSBC Cape Town Sevens, which is an esteemed tournament on the world series and will be of huge value to the planning and execution of Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022," Beaumont said.

SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux expressed confidence that the tournament in Cape Town will be as big a success as the 2018 edition held in San Francisco, USA.

"The HSBC Cape Town Sevens has established itself as a rugby bucket-list tournament in the past few years and we're sure that international visitors to the event will experience a great tournament at an ideal rugby venue in a fantastic city."

The eighth edition of the tournament will feature 24 men's and 16 women's rugby sevens teams competing over three days to be crowned world champion of the sport.

(Source: World Rugby)