| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2023 |
| First season | 2026 |
| No. of teams | 12 |
| Related competitions |
The World Rugby Nations Championship is a planned biennial international men's rugby union competition, which is scheduled to take place in the existing men's mid-year and end-of-year international windows in even-numbered years, with the inaugural edition set to take place in 2026. [1]
The competition will consist of twelve teams, involving the current Six Nations (England, France, Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and SANZAAR (Argentina, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand) unions, in addition to two unknown invited unions (widely reported to be Fiji and Japan, coincidentally the remaining two automatic qualifiers by 2023 pool standings for the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup). [2] The competition will be held in even-numbered years, as these are the years when there is no British & Irish Lions tour or Rugby World Cup, both of which are of prestige and commercial importance to the sport. [3]
The format of the competition will include a "European Conference", consisting of the Six Nations unions, and a "Rest of World Conference" comprising the SANZAAR nations, in addition to the two invited unions. Each team will play the six nations in their opposing conference across the July and November test windows, with a grand final to be played at the end of the November window between the first-placed teams in each conference to decide the tournament champion. [4]
A second division, run by World Rugby, will take place concurrently and is due to consist of twelve further teams, with promotion and relegation between the divisions commencing from the start of the third edition in 2030. In December 2024 it was reported that the second division would initially consist of the 12 teams that successfully qualify for the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup through the qualification process, meaning all the qualified teams for the 2027 tournament will take part in the inaugural edition. [5]
| Region | Continental qualifiers | Total teams |
|---|---|---|
| Six Nations | 6 | |
| SANZAAR | 4 | |
| Invited unions | 2 | |
| Totals | 10 | 12 |
| Region | Continental qualifiers | Play-off / FQT qualifiers | Total teams |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | TBD (Africa 1) | TBD | 1 or 2 |
| Asia | TBD (Asia 1) | TBD | 1 or 2 |
| Europe | TBD | 4 or 5 | |
| Pacific |
| TBD | 3 or 4 |
| Americas | TBD (Americas 1) | TBD | 1, 2 or 3 |
| Totals | 10 | 2 | 12 |
The creation of the Nations Championship has received criticism for 'ring-fencing' smaller nations outside elite competition and narrowing their opportunities to play against top nations. [7] It has also been criticised for potentially devaluing the Rugby World Cup. [8] World Rugby's Chief Executive Alan Gilpin has defended against this criticism by stating “the suggestions that this just makes the rich richer are misplaced. This creates a better landscape” whilst adding that there will be “50% guaranteed more crossover fixtures” in non-tournament years. [9]
