| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 6 March 2021 – 18 November 2022 |
| No. of nations | 34 |
← 2019 2027 → | |
The qualification process for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France began during the pool stages of the 2019 tournament in Japan, at which the top three teams from each of the four pools qualified automatically for the 2023 event. A further eight teams will qualify through regional, cross-regional play-offs and the repechage process. [1]
The qualifying matches began on 5 June 2021, when Burkina Faso defeated Burundi 52–3 in the first round of the African Qualification. The qualification process concluded in November 2022 with the Final Qualification Tournament.
| Region | Automatic qualifiers | Continental qualifiers | Play-off qualifiers | Total teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa |  South Africa (holders) |  Namibia (Africa 1) | — | 2 |
| Americas |  Argentina | — | 3 | |
| Europe |  Portugal (Final qualifier) | 9 | ||
| Asia |  Japan | — | — | 1 |
| Oceania |  Samoa (Oceania 1) |  Tonga (Asia/Pacific 1) | 5 | |
| Totals | 12 | 6 | 2 | 20 |
Following confirmation of the twelve automatically qualified teams from the 2019 Rugby World Cup, World Rugby announced the qualification format for the eight remaining places on 8 June 2020. Of the eight berths remaining, six are to be decided in regional tournaments, one by a cross-regional playoff and the last one via a final qualification tournament.
Rugby Africa was granted one place at the world cup, which was awarded to the winners of the 2022 Africa Cup (Africa 1), after a three-round phased process. The runner-up (Africa 2) advanced to the Final Qualification Tournament as Africa 2.
The Americas was awarded two qualifying berths, decided by several play-off matches across both North America and South America. Americas 1 was awarded to the winner of round 3; where North America 1 (the winner of a United States-Canada play-off series) v South America 1 (the winner of SAR 3 Nations Championship) played each other, with the winner on aggregate qualifying for the World Cup.
Americas 2 were the winners on aggregate in a final play-off series between the runners-up of round 3 and the winners of a play-off series between North America 2 and South Americas 2. The loser of the final play-off series progressed to the Final Qualification Tournament as Americas 3.
Asia Rugby, with its top-ranked team automatically qualified already, did not get another direct qualifying place. However, the 2021 Asia Rugby Championship (later delayed to 2022) winner (Asia 1) will have the chance to qualify via a cross-regional play-off against Oceania 2 (Tonga).
Rugby Europe, having six teams automatically qualified, gained a further two more world cup berths, which were awarded to the winners and runners-up of a combined 2021–2022 Rugby Europe Championship (Europe 1 and Europe 2) table. The third-placed team advanced to the Final Qualification Tournament as Europe 3.
Oceania Rugby was granted one direct qualification berth, and was awarded to the winner on aggregate of a Samoa–Tonga home and away play-off (Oceania 1). The loser, Tonga, then progressed to a straight play-off match against the deemed winner of the 2021 Oceania Rugby Cup (Cook Islands), which Tonga won to advance as Oceania 2 to a cross-regional play-off against Asia 1.
Following the regional tournaments, the next qualification stage was a single-leg qualification match between Asia 1 (Hong Kong) and Oceania 2 (Tonga), with the winner (Tonga) qualifying for the 2023 Rugby World Cup as Asia/Pacific 1. Hong Kong advanced to the Final Qualification Tournament as Asia/Pacific 2.
The final stage of the qualification process concluded in November 2022 with a four-teamed round-robin format Final Qualification Tournament.
The four teams were:
Kenya (Africa 2)
United States (Americas 3) Portugal (Europe 3)
Hong Kong (Asia/Pacific 2)Portugal won the final Qualifier and joined Pool C of the 2023 World Cup.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. 199 teams entered the tournament qualification rounds, competing for 32 spots in the final tournament. South Korea and Japan, as the co-hosts, and France, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 29 spots open for competition.
There were 20 places available for the 2007 Rugby World Cup held in France. The 86 teams taking part in regional qualifying competitions together with the 8 teams which have qualified automatically brings to 94 the total number of teams participating in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Rugby World Cup qualification is a process that determines which nations will compete at the Rugby World Cup, a men's rugby union competition.
Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) – was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. A total of 205 teams entered the qualification competition, with South Africa, as the host, qualifying for the World Cup automatically. The first qualification matches were played on 25 August 2007 and qualification concluded on 18 November 2009. Overall, 2,338 goals were scored over 852 matches, scoring on average 2.74 per match.
The 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process saw 48 teams from the six FIFA confederations compete for the 12 places in the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup finals. The places were divided as follows:
The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process decided the 15 teams which played at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the host China initially qualified automatically as the host nation. The qualification process for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup saw 99 teams from the six FIFA confederations compete for the 16 places in the tournament's finals. The places were divided as follows:
For the 1991 Rugby World Cup, 16 nations participated in the finals tournament, half of which came through qualifying matches, and the other were granted automatic entry as they were quarter-finalists at the 1987 Rugby World Cup. The 25 teams taking part in regional qualifiers together with the 8 teams which qualified automatically brings to 33 the total number of teams participating in the 1991 Rugby World Cup.
2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying began at the 2007 tournament in France, where twelve teams earned a place in the finals of the tournament, this automatically qualified them for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
The qualification process for the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup began on 5 February 2012. A total of 12 teams will qualify for the tournament, which will be held in France between 1 and 17 August 2014.
The qualification process for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan began during the pool stages of the 2015 tournament in England, during which the top three teams from each of the four pools were awarded automatic qualification for the 2019 event. A further eight teams qualified through regional, cross-regional tournaments and the repechage process.
The qualification process for the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup began on 14 February 2015. Twelve teams qualified for the tournament, which was held in Ireland in 2017.
Qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup for Oceania Rugby began in June 2016, where across 2 years, 3 teams competed for two direct qualification spots from Oceania. Two places were available to Oceania in a cross-regional play-off series' to qualify for the World Cup and or advance through the Repechage.
For the 2019 Rugby World Cup, there were several play-off matches during the qualification process in order to determine which nations would compete in the Repechage. Canada, who failed to be one of the three teams to advance from the Americas qualification process, despite being the third highest ranked team in the Americas, emerged from the repechage process in November 2018 to become the final team to qualify for the World Cup.
The Rugby League World Cup qualification is the process a national team goes through to qualify for the Rugby League World Cup Finals.
Twelve teams qualified for men's rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Japan automatically qualified as host, with the top four teams of the 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series securing their spots. Afterwards, qualification was determined with each of the six continental confederations determining a representative, and the remaining qualification spot determined through an international sevens tournament.
The qualification process for the 2021 Rugby World Cup began on 9 August 2019 with 12 teams qualifying to the tournament which was to be held in New Zealand. The 2021 Rugby World Cup was postponed by one year in March 2021 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qualifying for the 2023 Rugby World Cup for Oceania Rugby began in July 2021, where 3 teams competed for one direct qualification spot into the final tournament and for a place in a cross-regional play-off match.
The women's tournament for the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held in Cape Town, South Africa from 9 to 11 September at the Cape Town Stadium.
The 2023 Rugby World Cup regional play-off and Final Qualification Tournament were the final two stages of the qualifying process for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. A cross-regional play-off match determined the Asia/Pacific play-off winner berth, after which a global repechage tournament between four teams decided the twentieth and final team qualifying for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
The men's tournament for the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held in Cape Town, South Africa from 9 to 11 September at the Cape Town Stadium.
