Rugby League World Cup 2025: Tournament moved to 2026
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The Women's Rugby League Cup will be a standalone tournament from 2028
The next Rugby League World Cup will be delayed by a year until 2026.
The announcement came after France withdrew from hosting the event.
The tournament was going to be staged during October and November 2025 but there were concerns by the French that they would lose lots of money.
Now the International Rugby League (IRL) has pushed the event back by a year and says it will most likely be held in the southern hemisphere instead - with Australia and New Zealand now favourites to take over.
The women's Rugby League World Cup will be a standalone tournament from 2028, meaning it will happen at a different time to the men's from that year onwards.
Women's Rugby World Cup to be a standalone event
England and France's women's players at the Six Nations
Those in charge of international rugby league says the women's game deserves to have its own tournament as a standalone event because of the 'phenomenal rate' of growth seen in the game.
From 2028, the women's games will happen at a different time to the men's but this change will not come into play for the 2026 tournament.
There are also plans for years outside the World Cup cycle which include England's men and women going on tour in Australia in 2025.
Why is France no longer hosting the Rugby League World Cup?
Australia won the last Rugby League World Cup in 2022
The next Rugby League World Cup was due to be held in France in 2025, however, they were unable to get financial support from the government.
This means the tournament will be pushed back to 2026 and will now be held in the southern hemisphere.
It has not been announced who the new host will be but it is likely that Australia and New Zealand will bid.
To begin with, New Zealand did offer to host the cup in 2025, but the IRL (International Rugby League) wanted to wait until the following year to give the tournament the best chance of success.
Who hosted the last Rugby League World Cup?
England hosted the last Rugby League World Cup in 2022, after it was delayed
Rugby League World Cup 2026
Although we don't know about who the host nation will be, we do know a bit about the structure of the tournament.
The World Cup will include a reduced men's tournament which will have 10 teams.
The women's and wheelchair competitions will have eight teams each.
Nations like France, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Italy will have have to go through a qualification process, which has not yet been drawn up.
The International Rugby League has said "The cancellation of France 2025 has given us an opportunity to refresh the structure of the World Cup and associated tournaments."