2026 Rugby League World Cup

The 2026 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2026) is a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league and is a replacement tournament for the 2025 Rugby League World Cup.

Like 2021, the 2026 World Cup will see the men's, women's, and wheelchair world cups simultaneously. However unlike 2021, the men's tournament will feature ten teams only, and the planned expansion of the women's and wheelchair tournament will be delayed keeping team numbers at eight in each.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Host selection

Originally due to be staged in the US and Canada in 2025,^[6][7] the offer was withdrawn due to financial concerns.^[8] In 2022 hosting was awarded to France.^[9][10][11] In May 2023 the French organisers pulled out of hosting the games.^{[12][13][14][15][16]}

On 3 August 2023 the 2025 tournaments were cancelled by the sport's governing body with the announcement that a new reduced-size tournament would take place in the southern hemisphere in 2026.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Nations

10 nations had already qualified for the tournaments:

Note: M=Men's tournament, W=Women's tournament, WC=Wheelchair tournament

Competitions

As with 2021, the men's, women's, and wheelchair rugby league world cups will be held simultaneously in equal prominence.

Men

Women

Wheelchair

Legacy

With the announcement of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup, International Rugby League also announced a long awaited international rugby league calendar dating from 2023 to 2030, citing the cancellations of the 2025 tournament as "the perfect opportunity" to refresh the international game. The calendar confirmed the already arranged 2023 Tonga tour of England, and also announced a 2025 Lions and Lionesses tour of Australia (which will include the revival of The Ashes), 2027 Kiwi tour of England, 2028 Kangaroo tour of England, and a 2029 tour between England and an unconfirmed Pacific Nation.^[1][5] The announcement also stated a 2024 Samoa tour of England would be likely, as this was already being discussed by the two nations, however Samoa eventually declined the offer.^[17][18] The calendar also announced that the Women's Rugby League World Cup would be a stand alone event starting in 2028. In addition, there would be a renewed focus on regional tournaments to aid in developing lesser rugby league nations.^[1][5] A later announcement confirmed the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup would also be a stand alone event starting in 2029.^[19]

References