Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, only two tournaments were played in the 2021 series instead of the usual ten.

[1] The number of teams participating was also reduced from sixteen to twelve at the tournaments, with many of the top teams from the previous series not taking part.

Hong Kong, Germany and Chile were in the top four of the 2020 Series, while Jamaica and Mexico were the only North American entrants.

The official schedule for the 2021 World Rugby Sevens Series was:[7][8] On 4 August organisers announced the cancellation of the Hong Kong Sevens for the second year running because of the emerging Covid-19 Delta variant and global travel restrictions.

[9] On 3 September, World Rugby cancelled the Singapore and Cape Town tournaments due to ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and announced that the 2021 Dubai Sevens tournament would no longer be part of the 2021 series but incorporated into the 2021-22 series instead.