2025 Rugby League World Cup

Last updated
2025 (2025) Rugby League World Cup  ()
Number of teams
  • 16 (men)
  • 16 (women)
  • 16 (wheelchair)
  • 16 (youth)
Host countryFlag of France.svg  France
Matches played93 (planned)
 < 2021
2026 > 

The 2025 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2025) was a planned collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league which was replaced by the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.

Contents

Like 2021, the 2025 World Cup was to have run a men's, women's and wheelchair world cups simultaneously, in addition to a youth World Cup. [1] [2]

Originally due to be staged in the USA and Canada, the offer was withdrawn due to financial concerns, hosting was subsequently awarded to France. In May 2023 the French organisers pulled out of hosting the games. On 3 August 2023 the 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. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Host selection

Host 1: United States and Canada

After the United States lost the 2021 Rugby League World Cup bid to England, International Rugby League (IRL) recommended that the United States and Canada should host the 2025 event after a bid by Moore Sports International. [7] The IRL Congress reviewed that recommendation at a meeting in November 2016. [8] On 20 November, it was announced that the United States and Canada bid had won the rights to host the 2025 World Cup. This would have been the first time the tournament was held outside of Europe and Oceania. [9] [10]

On 4 December 2018, plans for the World Cup to be held in North America were scrapped due to financial concerns and that the location of the 2025 Rugby League World Cup would be determined by a new bidding process in 2019. [11]

Host 2: France

In March 2021, it was reported that France is the preferred destination for the 2025 Rugby League World Cup. [12] France officially lodged a bid later that year, in July. [13]

In January 2022, France won the bid to host the world cup. The official announcement announcing France as the host nation was made on 11 January 2022 by then French prime minister, Jean Castex, who described hosting the tournament as "a tremendous asset for economic appeal and social cohesion". [14] [15] [16] [17]

International Rugby League president Troy Grant stated: [17]

"The rebirth of international rugby league in France has been a strategic goal of our sport for many decades and I am delighted that it will now become a reality through this award of the 2025 World Cup to France."

On 12 May 2023 reports began circulating that France would withdraw from hosting the tournament. [18]

On 15 May, it was announced that France had withdrawn as hosts, due to financial concerns from the new French government, elected in May 2022. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] French rugby league journalist Rodolphe Pires  [ fr ] cited the lack of regular international matches and France's poor performances in recent years as a contributing factor to the French Government's decision. [24]

Controversy surrounding the withdrawal

Following the withdrawal of France as hosts, organisers and journalists began to criticise the French government on their decision as it was reported that the French Government were demanding "financial guarantee to cover the risk of losses". Controversy comes from the planned investment of €10,000,000 being dwarfed compared to the money already invested by the French Government into the 2023 Rugby Union World Cup (~€170,000,000 [25] ) and 2024 Summer Olympics (~€1,500,000,000 [26] ). Other journalists have also likened the dissociation of rugby league by the French Government to the sport's ban under the Vichy France regime. [27] [28]

Reaction to the withdrawal

International Rugby League president Troy Grant statement on the withdrawal: [22]

"I respect the French government's decision amid the challenges they are facing but I can't hide my disappointment, that I conveyed clearly to them in person. Despite our focus having been on France, we will now accelerate our consideration of other contingency options."

Grant also expressed that France will continue to be "central to our strategic plans", whilst acknowledging that the 2025 tournament was an ambitious project from the start, but one believed possible after the success of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. [22]

Rodolphe Pires described the withdrawal as a "betrayal" to French rugby league fans. [24]

Sam Tomkins, then captain of the largest club in France, Catalans Dragons, described the withdrawal as a "huge blow" to French rugby league and continued to say it was something that the French public "were really looking forward to". [29]

Subsequent action and cancellation

One day after France's withdrawal, New Zealand announced it was considering a bid to host the tournament in 2026, as well as a bid with potential co-hosts Australia which could be staged in the intended 2025. [30] [31] Fiji, Qatar, and South Africa had also expressed interest. [32] [33] [34] [35]

In August 2023 the IRL announced that the 2025 tournaments were cancelled with the next events to take place in 2026 in the southern hemisphere and with the number of nations taking part in the men's tournament reduced from 16 to 10. The number of women's and wheelchair teams participating remained at 8 after a planned expansion to 16. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Nations

At the time of cancellation, 17 nations had qualified for the four tournaments: [36] [37]

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

Qualification

The above nations had automatically qualified for the 2025 Rugby League World Cup by virtue of reaching the 2021 quarter finals (men's), participating in 2021 (women's and wheelchair), or by being one of the four core rugby league nations (youth).

Men's

Americas

Brazil won the 2022 South American Rugby League Championship. As a result they were to enter a 2023 qualification tournament with Canada, Jamaica, and the United States for the Americas' two places in the tournament.

Europe

European qualification was intended to be achieved via the 2023 Rugby League European Championships and following repêchage in 2024 for Europe's four remaining places.

Africa and Oceania

The winner of a 2023 African qualification tournament (details of which were never announced) would play the Cook Islands in 2024 for the final place in the tournament.

Women's

2025 would have been the first time women's teams would have to qualify for the World Cup. However, a complete qualification schedule was never announced. It was intended that the qualification process would have been announced in June 2023. Including the automatically qualifying teams, the tournament would consist of three teams from The Americas, six from Asia-Pacific, six Europe, and one from Middle East-Africa. [36] On 8 March 2023, details for the European qualification process were announced with eight teams divided into two groups and matches scheduled to take place between September 2023 and May 2024. [38]

Wheelchair and Youth

The wheelchair tournament would continue to be invitees only, with the inaugural youth tournament being the same.

Venues

For the tournament, 38 cities bid to host matches across the men's, women's, wheelchair, and youth competitions. These were:

Albi, Arras, Autun, Beauvais, Blagnac, Begles, Besancon, Biganos, Bordeaux, Boulazac, Carcassonne, Chambery, Chatillon, Issoire, Le Creusot, Le Mans, Libourne, Limoges, Limoux, Lourdes, Marmande-Tonneins, Martigues, Massy, Montauban, Montlucon; Narbonne, Nice, Paris, Perigueux, Perpignan, Pia, Roanne, Salon-de-Provence, Toulouse, Trelissac, Vannes, Vichy, Villefrance-de-Rouergue, Villeneuve-sur-Lot.

It was intended that Paris, Toulouse and Marseille would host the final and semi-finals of the men's tournament. [2]

Related Research Articles

The Rugby League European Championship is a rugby league football tournament for European national teams that was first held in 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Moroccan Football Federation</span> Sport governing body

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation is the governing body of football in Morocco. It was established in 1956. It became a member in the FIFA in 1960, and in the same year it also became a member of CAF. It organizes the football league, the Botola, the Morocco national football team and the Morocco women's national football team. It is based in Rabat. it is also a member of the UAFA and UNAF.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby league in France</span>

Rugby league has been played in France since 1934. As with rugby union, rugby league was introduced by the English and the heartland of the game is in the south of France.

The Women's Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament, contested by the women's national teams of the International Rugby League (IRL). The competition has been held since 2000 and was incorporated into the Festival of World Cups in 2008 until 2017 when it became a centrepiece event along with the men's competition. Under the current format, eight teams are separated into two groups of four with the top two in each group qualifying for the semi-finals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby League World Cup</span> International rugby league football tournament

The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was the first World Cup held for any form of rugby football.

Seven countries have hosted and/or co-hosted the Rugby League World Cup. England, France, Australia and New Zealand have hosted the World Cup on multiple occasions and the tournament has never been played outside its traditional 'heartlands' in these areas. The International Rugby League is responsible for picking hosts.

The 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup will be the seventeenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup, and will be one of three major tournaments part of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2027 Men's Rugby World Cup</span> Eleventh edition of the Rugby World Cup

The 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the eleventh edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It is scheduled to take place in Australia from 1 October to 13 November 2027.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Rugby League World Cup</span>

The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament currently played every four years. The first tournament was held in 1954, hosted by France who had pushed for such a tournament to be approved. Since the first edition, 14 others have been held at sporadic intervals.

The 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup qualification will decide the teams that will join the quarter-finalists from the previous World Cup at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup. The location of the tournament will be held in two venues within France.

The 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup will be the seventh staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup, and will be one of three major tournaments part of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2025 Women's Rugby World Cup</span> Tenth edition of the Womens Rugby World Cup

The 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup will be the tenth edition of the women's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams, organised by World Rugby. It is scheduled to take place in England between 22 August and 27 September 2025. The opening game will take place at the Stadium of Light with the final scheduled to be held at Twickenham Stadium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Rugby League World Cup</span> International rugby league tournaments

The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022.

The 2023 Rugby League European Championships was intended to be the 34th edition of the first division, Euro A, and 11th edition of the second division, Euro B, as well as the inaugural edition of the promotion and relegation era of the tournament after the cancellation of the planned first edition in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup qualification was announced on December. It will feature four confederation qualification tournaments for each of the four International Rugby League confederations. The two group winners of Europe will directly qualify, while the playoff winner of the two runners up will face the winners of other three tournaments in the 2025 World Series for the final two spots in the 2026 Women's 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.

The 2026 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup will be the fifth staging of the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup, and will be one of three major tournaments part of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.

The 2028 Women's Rugby League World Cup will be the eighth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup, and will be the first stand alone Women's Rugby League World Cup since the women's tournament was made a primary event and moved out of the Festival of World Cups in 2017.

The 2029 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup will be the sixth staging of the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup, and will be the first stand alone Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup since the wheelchair tournament was made a primary event and moved out of the Festival of World Cups in 2021.

The 2030 Men's Rugby League World Cup will be the eighteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup, and will revert to a stand-alone tournament with the women's and wheelchair tournaments being played in 2028 and 2029 respectively.

References

  1. ↑ "'The Rooster is going to sing again': France aiming high for 2025 World Cup". National Rugby League. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Everything you need to know about the 2025 World Cup in France". 11 January 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Southern hemisphere to host 2026 World Cup". BBC Sport. 3 August 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Reduced Rugby League World Cup to take place in 2026". The Guardian. 3 August 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  5. 1 2 "2026 Rugby League World Cup to be hosted in southern hemisphere". The Independent. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Rugby League World Cup 2025 to be delayed". Love Rugby League. 3 August 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  7. ↑ "US-Canada set to host Rugby League World Cup in 2025". nzherald.co.nz. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  8. ↑ "England to host RLWC2021 – North America recommended for RLWC2025". rlif.com. 27 October 2016. Archived from the original on 2 November 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  9. ↑ "Rugby League World Cup moves to North America in 2025". stuff sport. 20 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  10. ↑ "North America to Host 2025 Rugby league World Cup". Canada Rugby League Association. 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  11. ↑ Adrian Proszenko (4 December 2018). "US World Cup hosting plans torpedoed by money trouble". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  12. ↑ Dave Woods (30 March 2021). "International Rugby League Board planning 2025 World Cup in France". BBC. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  13. ↑ "France officially to bid to host 2025 Rugby League World Cup | Rugby League Planet". 9 July 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  14. ↑ "France to host 2025 World Cup". National Rugby League. 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  15. ↑ Shaw, Matthew (2022-01-11). "French Prime Minister Jean Castex's pride after securing Rugby League World Cup". YorkshireLive. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  16. ↑ "France set to host the 2025 Rugby League World Cups". Asia Pacific Rugby League. 2022-01-11. Archived from the original on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  17. 1 2 "France to host 2025 Rugby League World Cup 71 years after hosting sport's first showpiece in 1954". Sky Sports.
  18. ↑ ""It's quite shocking and alarming" – 2025 World Cup reportedly in doubt". LoveRugbyLeague. 12 May 2023.
  19. ↑ "France pulls out of hosting Rugby League World Cup". BBC Sport. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  20. ↑ "France no longer able to host 2025 Rugby League World Cup". seriousaboutrl.com. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  21. ↑ Bower, Aaron (15 May 2023). "2025 Rugby League World Cup in doubt after France pull out of staging event". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  22. 1 2 3 "France withdraw from hosting 2025 Rugby League World Cup over financial concerns". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  23. ↑ "Confirmed: France will not host 2025 Rugby League World Cup". LoveRugbyLeague. 2023-05-15. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  24. 1 2 ""French Rugby League fans feel betrayed" – Commentator reveals World Cup fallout". seriousaboutrl.com. 16 May 2023.
  25. ↑ "Rugyby - France pads bid to land 2023 World Cup". Reuters. 2017-09-20. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  26. ↑ "Government report sees Paris Olympics 500 million euros over budget". Reuters. 2018-03-30. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  27. ↑ "Sadness and anger as Government slammed for treatment of rugby league". LoveRugbyLeague. 2023-05-15. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  28. ↑ Pattison, Cam (2023-05-15). "Explained: Why France will no longer host 2025 World Cup". Rugby League News. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  29. ↑ "Sam Tomkins: Catalans Dragons star believes France World Cup hosting withdrawal a 'huge blow' for French rugby league". Sky Sports. 17 May 2023.
  30. ↑ Hytner, Mike (2023-05-16). "New Zealand makes bid to co-host 2025 Rugby League World Cup with Australia after France pulls out". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-05-16.
  31. ↑ "New Zealand keen to host 2025 Rugby League World Cup with Australia after France pull-out". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  32. ↑ "Fiji, Qatar & South Africa express World Cup interest - BBC Sport". BBC News . 2023-05-17. Archived from the original on 2023-06-03.
  33. ↑ "The four countries to have shown interest in hosting the 2025 World Cup". LoveRugbyLeague. 17 May 2023.
  34. ↑ "Qatar steps up to join bidders for next Rugby League World Cup in 2025". The Guardian. 17 May 2023.
  35. ↑ "Qatar expresses an interest in staging Rugby League World Cup". Total Rugby League. 17 May 2023.
  36. 1 2 "International Rugby League announces qualification places for France 2025". Asia Pacific Rugby League. 29 April 2023. Archived from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  37. ↑ "Men's 2025 World Cup regional qualifiers confirmed". Asia Pacific Rugby League. 29 November 2022. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  38. ↑ "Wales to host Netherlands and travel to Greece and Turkey". Wales Rugby League. 8 May 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.