International Rugby League announces scaled back World Cup plans with southern hemisphere to host 2026 edition

International Rugby League (IRL) has announced that the sport’s next World Cup has been pushed back 12 months to 2026, with the tournament to take place in the southern hemisphere on a reduced scale.

With France having been due to stage the next Rugby League World Cup in 2025, the country pulled out in May citing funding-related issues. Following this, the IRL revealed that New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and Qatar had each declared an interest in hosting the tournament - although Qatar subsequently withdrew from the reckoning.

As a result of at a board meeting in Singapore this week, the IRL has advised that the tournament will be postponed to 2026, as part of a new cycle for the international game, with the World Cup to take place in the southern hemisphere.

A decision on the host nation or nations will now be made by the end of the year, with the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments to once again be played alongside each other.

The IRL has also advised that the tournament will be reduced from 16 teams to 10, with the eight quarter-finalists from last year’s tournament - Australia, Samoa, England, New Zealand, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Lebanon and Fiji - automatically qualifying.

They will be joined by two qualifiers, with the host nation to be revealed this year.

Commenting on the change, IRL Chair, Troy Grant advised “we will have an expedited bid process and the host will be identified before the year’s end, once the board has completed its due diligence of those bids.”

It has also been decided that the Women’s Rugby League World Cup will be held as a standalone tournament from 2028 while the wider revamp of the international calendar will see the return of an Ashes series that will see England’s men and women tour Australia in 2025.

 New Zealand and Australia will also head to England in 2027 and 2028, respectively.

The calendar will also feature international tours for other nations, and dedicated northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere tournaments.

Grant added “the cancellation of France 2025 has given us an opportunity to refresh the structure of the World Cup and associated tournaments as part of a long-term international calendar that all in the game have been desperately seeking.

“The Rugby League World Cup is the pinnacle of our sport and an elite tournament that all nations should aspire to take part in. With 10 men’s teams at the 2026 and 2030 World Cups, there will be greater focus on regional championships and qualifying tournaments.

“The growth of women’s rugby league has been at such a phenomenal rate that the IRL board believes they deserve to have their own World Cup staged as a standalone tournament from 2028 onwards. With the men’s World Cup cycle moving back a year, there will now be a World Cup every 24 months, but this is not a set-and-forget international calendar and there will be opportunities to capitalise on the future growth we believe these changes will generate.”

Image: The Rugby League World Cup.