| 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship | |
|---|---|
| Number of teams | 11 |
| Host country |  Australia |
| Winner |  Malta |
| Matches played | 22 |
| Attendance | 8,532 (388 per match) |
| Points scored | 1025 (46.59 per match) |
| Top scorer |  Ethan Niszczot (60) |
| Top try scorers | Chippie Korostchuk (6) Justice Utatao (6) |
The 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship (ENWC) was a rugby league tournament held for Tier Two and Tier Three nations, the third edition of the Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament.
Several nations that had not qualified, or were not eligible to qualify, for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup planned to contest an Emerging Nations tournament in Sydney in 2017 alongside the World Cup. However this tournament did not get support from the Rugby League International Federation, and did not go ahead. [1]
On 29 March 2017, the Rugby League International Federation announced that Australia will be host the tournament in 2018. [2] The two-week-long tournament will be held in Western Sydney, New South Wales with games taking place in Windsor, St Marys and Cabramatta. [3]
Ten teams were already confirmed for the tournament by March 2017 [2] with a number of others later also announcing their participation. [4] [5] [6] 15 teams were expected to compete, though Canada, India, Latvia, and Thailand were not included in the final draw, for unspecified reasons.
| Nation | Coach | Notable players | RLIF Rank (Jul 2018) |
|---|---|---|---|
 Greece | Steve Georgallis | Stefanos Bastas, Michael Korkidas, Jordan Meads [7] | |
 Hong Kong | Jason Fairleigh [8] | – | |
 Hungary | Jonathan Wilson | Stuart Flanagan [9] | |
 Japan | Viliami Ahosivi | Gehamat Shibasaki [10] | |
| Malta | Peter Cassar & Aaron McDonald | Tyler Cassel, Jarrod Sammut, [11] Sam Stone [12] | |
| Niue |  Brendan "Bman" Perenara | Zebastian Lucky Luisi, Eddie Paea, Sione Tovo [13] | |
 Philippines | Arwin Marcus | Shane Gray, Payne Haas ( ), [14] Paul Sheedy [15] | |
| Poland |  Lee Addison [16] [17] | Harry Siejka [18] | |
 Solomon Islands | John Jewiss & Luke Heckendorf [19] | – | |
 Turkey | Scott Hartas | Emre Guler, Aidan Sezer, Jansin Turgut [20] | |
 Vanuatu | Lionel Harbin [21] | Alehana Mara [22] |
Four multi-country regional teams will compete in a parallel tournament. [2]
| Region | Organising body | Eligible countries |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | Africa United Rugby League | 54 sovereign states of Africa. [23]  Algeria,  Angola,  Benin,  Botswana,  Burkina Faso,  Burundi,  Cape Verde,  Cameroon,  Central African Republic,  Chad,  Comoros,  Congo,  Cote d'Ivoire,  Djibouti,  DR Congo,  Egypt,  Equatorial Guinea,  Eritrea,  Ethiopia,  Gabon,  Gambia,  Ghana,  Guinea,  Guinea-Bissau,  Kenya,  Lesotho,  Liberia,  Libya,  Madagascar,  Malawi,  Mali,  Mauritania,  Mauritius,  Morocco,  Mozambique,  Namibia,  Niger,  Nigeria,  Rwanda,  São Tomé and Príncipe,  Senegal,  Seychelles,  Sierra Leone,  Somalia,  South Africa,  South Sudan,  Sudan,  Swaziland,  Tanzania,  Togo,  Tunisia,  Uganda,  Zambia, and  Zimbabwe. |
| Latin America | Latin Heat Rugby League | |
| Mediterranean | Mediterranean Rugby League | |
| South East Asia | ASEAN RL Association |
Tournament fixtures were announced on 17 July 2018. [27]
| Key to colours in pool tables | |
|---|---|
| Advances to Cup play-offs (1st to 4th places) | |
| Advances to Trophy play-offs (5th to 8th places) | |
| Advances to Bowl play-offs (9th to 11th places) | |
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| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malta Cup Winners | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 96 | 62 | +34 |
| 2 | Niue | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 82 | 60 | +22 |
| 3 | Greece | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 90 | 54 | +36 |
| 4 | Hungary | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 66 | 77 | -11 |
| 5 | Poland Trophy Winners | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 178 | 26 | +152 |
| 6 | Philippines | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 61 | 90 | -29 |
| 7 | Turkey | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 133 | 77 | +56 |
| 8 | Vanuatu | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 43 | 127 | -84 |
| 9 | Solomon Islands Plate Winners | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 154 | 78 | +76 |
| 10 | Japan | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 60 | 192 | -132 |
| 11 | Hong Kong | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 62 | 182 | -120 |
The Greece national rugby league team represents Greece in rugby league. The national team has been participating in international competition since 2003, and have become an affiliate member of the Rugby League International Federation.
The Japan national rugby league team, nicknamed the Samurais, represents Japan in rugby league football. Japan have played some international competition since 1994. The Japanese National Cup, the JRL domestic club competition, was founded in 1998. In 2021 the season was restarted after a break for COVID with 5 teams in two divisions, 3 clubs in East Japan, the Abiko Ducks, Mitaka Spartans and South Ikebukuro Rabbitohs; and 2 clubs in West Japan, the kamisenryu Sea Turtles and The Kansai Kaminari.
Rugby league is a team sport that is relatively new to Greece.
The Ron Massey Cup is a semi-professional development level rugby league competition in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, run jointly by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and the Country Rugby League of New South Wales (CRL). The competition is run concurrently with the National Rugby League (NRL). It currently comprises 13 teams drawn from the Sydney metropolitan area. The competition is named after Ron Massey, a former rugby league coach. Ron Massey died 19 September 2016.
The Solomon Islands national rugby league team represents the Solomon Islands in the sport of rugby league football.
The Philippines national rugby league team represent the Philippines in international rugby league football matches. They were established in 2011. In their short history the Tamaraws have been relatively successful, being repeated Asian Cup winners and regularly participating in the Cabramatta International 9s rugby league tournament.
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams of 14 Rugby League International Federation member countries who qualified through either standing in the previous tournament or a series of qualification play-off matches. In the final, defending champions Australia, playing in their 14th consecutive final, defeated England at Brisbane's Lang Park.
The Argentina national rugby league team represent Argentina in the sport of rugby league football.
The Hungary national rugby league team, known as the Magyar Bulls, represents Hungary in the sport of rugby league football. Making their debut against the Czech Republic in July 2011, they played their first ranked international against Greece in October 2013.
The Vanuatu national rugby league team represents Vanuatu in international rugby league matches. The team was founded in 2011 and is administered by the Vanuatu Rugby League (VRL).
The Australia women's national rugby league team, also known as the Australian Jillaroos, or Harvey Norman Jillaroos for sponsorship reasons, represents Australia in women's rugby league. They are administered by the Australian Rugby League Commission and Australian Women's Rugby League.
The El Salvador national rugby league team, nicknamed El Trueno Azul, represents El Salvador in rugby league. They had their first international 9's tournament in 2015 in Australia along with Chile in Latin America at the Cabramatta International Nines.
The Chile national rugby league team represents Chile in rugby league. The team is operated by Futbol a 13 Chile and sanctioned by the Rugby League International Federation to represent Chile at international level in the sport of rugby league.
The Hong Kong national rugby league team represents Hong Kong in the sport of rugby league.
International rugby league matches were played throughout 2018.
The 2018–19 Rugby League European Championship C is the initial phase of European qualifying to the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. The series involves two pools of three teams in a round-robin tournament. These matches took place between 16 June and 15 September 2018.
The Turkey national rugby league team represents Turkey in international rugby league. The team played their first match in 2018.
The Poland national rugby league team represent Poland in international rugby league football competitions throughout Europe and around the World. Polska XIII competed in the 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship in Sydney playing in the second tier tournament going through undefeated to win the Trophy defeating the Philippines 14-10 in the final.
International rugby league matches will be played throughout 2019.
The following is a list of results for the Greece national rugby league team since their first match in 2003, where they defeated New Caledonia 26–10. They have played 29 matches, winning 20 and losing nine. Their most recent result was an 82–6 win against Serbia.
