The Rugby Europe Women's Championship is an international competition contested between women's national teams who are members of Rugby Europe (known from 1999 to 2014 as FIRA - Association of European Rugby, and FIRA before that). The competition has its origins in a four nation "European Cup" held in 1988 but did not become an official FIRA competition until 1995. The competition has grown significantly and is some years attracts sufficient entrants for it to be divided into two "Pools" (A and B) with the eight highest ranked entrants in any year (based on Rugby Europe rankings) in Pool A.