SHIELD 2012-13
In 2012 the tournament will become a biennial championship involving Italy, Serbia, Russia and Germany.

The competition will now take place over two years with the four selected nations playing each other home and away. The side finishing bottom of the league will be relegated to the European Bowl, with the winner from that 2013 tournament taking their place in the 2014-5 Shield.

Pending RLIF confirmation of the format for the 2017 RLWC, the RLEF has proposed that the 2014-15 Shield acts as a qualifying tournament, meaning that all 24 European Shield matches between 2012 and 2015 are essentially world cup qualifiers.