The IRB Council has awarded Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 to the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union. The Tournament, which will be the first to incorporate a women's competition, will be played in Dubai in February 2009.

IRB Chairman, Dr Syd Millar made the announcement at the IRB's meeting of Council in Dublin following a vote that brought to a close the selection process that began in June 2006.

The voting process was managed by independent auditors, Price Waterhouse Coopers, and consisted of two rounds. No clear majority was reached in the first round and therefore the top two; Arabian Gulf and Australia progressed to a second round, with the IRB Council selecting Arabian Gulf as Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 Host Union.

"The Council members were extremely impressed with the Arabian Gulf Rugby Union bid and I am sure that Dubai will host a wonderful Tournament having staged a highly successful IRB Under 19 World Championship in 2006," said Dr Millar. "The people of Dubai will, of course, embrace the Rugby World Cup Sevens, but the same could be said for Australia, Russia, the Netherlands and USA, who all presented a strong case to host the Tournament."

"Dubai has a proven track record of staging major international events and has both the infrastructure and ability to stage a Tournament of this scale. There is a strong Rugby Community within the city and the annual Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens has grown to become one of the most popular, colourful and well attended on the IRB World Sevens Series calendar, attracting capacity crowds. I am sure that Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 in Dubai will be a spectacular Tournament," added Dr Millar.

David Skidmore, Chairman of the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union and leader of Dubai's bid could barely conceal his delight.

"It is wonderful news to be selected as Host Union. The Arabian Gulf may be one of the smaller Unions, but everyone has worked extremely hard on the bid and we are confident that we will deliver a tremendously successful Rugby World Cup Sevens Tournament in Dubai in 2009. Dubai has a strong history of hosting successful and well attended Rugby Sevens Tournaments and I am sure that everyone in the city will be extremely excited with today's news."

Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 will be the fifth Rugby World Cup Sevens Tournament. The inaugural Tournament was held in Scotland in 1993 with Tournaments following in Hong Kong in 1997, Argentina in 2001 and again in Hong Kong in 2005.

"Rugby World Cup Sevens 2005, held in Hong Kong, was an outstanding success. A capacity crowd of 120,000 fans attended the three competition days, while the event was broadcast to over 450 million homes, breaking all previous tournament records. Over 10 million hits were recorded on the Tournament's official website and we anticipate Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 being even more successful," said Dr Millar.

Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 will be the first to include a women's Tournament that will run alongside the men's competition and will consist of 24 men's and 16 women's teams. The inclusion of a women's Tournament for the first time is an exciting development for the women's Game which is experiencing unprecedented interest following the success of last year's Women's Rugby World Cup.

"The concept of two Rugby World Cup Sevens Tournaments - for men and women - taking place side-by-side in Dubai is a fantastic prospect. The Arabian Gulf Rugby Union really does have a tremendous opportunity to deliver the most successful Rugby World Cup Sevens Tournament to date and further showcase Rugby Sevens' strong claims for inclusion in the Olympic Games sports programme," added Dr Millar.

Voting breakdown

First round

Arabian Gulf 12

Australia 8

Netherlands 0

Russia 2

USA 2

Second round

Arabian Gulf 14

Australia 10