The Antim Cup is contested between the rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 teams of Romania

Romania national rugby union team

The Romania national rugby union team , nicknamed The Oaks , is the representative side of Romania in rugby union. Long considered one of the stronger European teams outside the Six Nations, they have participated in all six Rugby World Cups, and currently compete in the first division of the...

 ("The Oaks") and Georgia

Georgia national rugby union team

The Georgia national rugby union team represents Georgia in rugby union. The team's nickname, The Lelos, comes from lelo burti, a traditional Georgian sport with strong similarities to rugby. Lelo has been adopted as the Georgian word for "try"...

 ("The Lelos"). It is named after the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan

Metropolitan bishop

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...

 Anthim the Iberian

Anthim the Iberian

Anthim the Iberian was one of the greatest ecclesiastic figures of Wallachia , a noted Eastern Orthodox theologian and philosopher, founder of the first printing press in Romania, and Metropolitan of...

, who came from Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

.

The Antim Cup is contested each time Georgia and Romania meet in a senior international match other than World Cup matches or qualifiers. The holder retains the cup unless the challenger wins the match in normal time.

There was a motion from the Georgia Rugby Union just before the 2000 European Nations Cup decider in Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

, to establish a challenge cup along the lines of the Calcutta

Calcutta Cup

The Calcutta Cup is a rugby union trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Six Nations Championship match between England and Scotland. It is currently England's since the 2009 Six Nations Championship....

 and Bledisloe Cup

Bledisloe Cup

Rugby Union's Bledisloe Cup is contested by the Australia national rugby union team and New Zealand national rugby union team. It is named after Lord Bledisloe, the former Governor-General of New Zealand who donated the trophy in 1931. The trophy was designed in New Zealand by Nelson Isaac, and...

s to be annually played for between the Oaks and the Lelos.

It was decided that the cup should be named after Antimoz Iverieli (Georgian version) – Antim Iverianul (Romanian version) (c 1650–1716). The Rugby Supporters' League (RML) of Georgia approached the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilia the Second, through influential go-betweens and received his blessing for the use of the name 'Antim'.

The trophy was made by Georgian sculptor and former rugby player Guia Japaridze, who cast the cup in gilded bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

.

The current holder is Georgia, who defeated Romania 18-11 on March 12-th, 2011 in Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

.

Previous winners

Year	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
2002	6 April	Georgia	23 - 31	Romania	Tbilisi Tbilisi Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
2003	30 March	Georgia	6 - 19	Romania	Tbilisi Tbilisi Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
2004	27 May	Romania	25 - 18	Georgia	Iaşi Iasi Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
2005	12 March	Georgia	20 - 13	Romania	Tbilisi Tbilisi Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
2006	25 February	Romania	35 - 10	Georgia	Bucharest Bucharest Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
2007	3 February	Romania	17 - 20	Georgia	Bucharest Bucharest Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
2008	9 February	Georgia	22 - 7	Romania	Tbilisi Tbilisi Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
2009	14 March	Georgia	28 - 23	Romania	Tbilisi Tbilisi Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
2010	13 March	Romania	22-10	Georgia	Bucharest Bucharest Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
2011	12 March	Georgia	18-11	Romania	Tbilisi Tbilisi Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
2011	28 September	Romania	9-25	Georgia	Palmerston North Palmerston North Palmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of and is the country's seventh largest city and eighth largest urban area. Palmerston North is located in the eastern Manawatu Plains near the north bank...

See also

• Antim Iverianul
• European Nations Cup
  European Nations Cup (rugby union)
  The European Nations Cup is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations. The Championship is split into 7 divisions with 5 or 6 teams in each. The divisions play on a two-year cycle with the teams playing each other both home and away...
  
  
• Georgia national rugby union team
  Georgia national rugby union team
  The Georgia national rugby union team represents Georgia in rugby union. The team's nickname, The Lelos, comes from lelo burti, a traditional Georgian sport with strong similarities to rugby. Lelo has been adopted as the Georgian word for "try"...
  
  
• Romania national rugby union team
  Romania national rugby union team
  The Romania national rugby union team , nicknamed The Oaks , is the representative side of Romania in rugby union. Long considered one of the stronger European teams outside the Six Nations, they have participated in all six Rugby World Cups, and currently compete in the first division of the...
  
  

Source

• Trophies from rugby footballhistory.com