2026 Rugby League World Cup

Originally due to be staged in the US and Canada in 2025, the offer was withdrawn due to financial concerns. In 2022, hosting was awarded to France. In May 2023, the French organisers pulled out of hosting the games. On 3 August 2023, the 2025 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. On 24 July 2024, the IRL announced that Australia would host the 2026 tournament, with a number of games played in Papua New Guinea. The announcement of the draw and pools on 23 November 2025 included the new stadium, Te Kaha, in Christchurch in the list of venues, adding New Zealand as a host country. Te Kaha is known as One New Zealand Stadium for sponsorship reasons as is due to be opened in April 2026. The Wollongong Entertainment Centre was selected as the venue for all matches in the Wheelchair World Cup. ==Nations==

14 nations have qualified for the three tournaments: • (M, W, WC) • (M) • (M, W, WC) • (M, W) • (M, W, WC) • (WC) • (M) • (M, W, WC) • (M, W) • (M, W) • (WC) • (M) • (WC) • (W, WC) Note: M=Men's tournament, W=Women's tournament, WC=Wheelchair tournament == Competitions ==

As with 2021, the men's, women's, and wheelchair rugby league world cups will be held simultaneously in equal prominence. Men Women Wheelchair ==Broadcasting==

In Australia, Seven Network won rights to the tournament in a $12 million deal. The deal was confirmed on 22 October 2025. ==Scheduling==

Collectively, matches have been scheduled at eleven venues in nine cities. The Sydney Football Stadium (Allianz Stadium) in Moore Park and Western Sydney Stadium (CommBank Stadium) in Parramatta are the two venues to be used in Greater Sydney. There are just three stand-alone matches. All three involve the Australian men's team. Notes: • M=Men's tournament, W=Women's tournament, WC=Wheelchair tournament • For the purpose of displaying this table in one line per row acronyms have been used: NZ=New Zealand, PNG=Papua New Guinea, USA=United States of America. • The four timeslots are based on the start time on the east coast of Australia. For example, the men's game in Perth between England and Tonga has a start time of 5:05pm locally (AWST; UTC+08:00); 7:05pm (AEST; UTC+10:00) in Queensland and 8:05pm (AEDT; UTC+11:00) in New South Wales. The game is listed in the Evening/Night timeslot rather than the late afternoon timeslot. • In addition to Perth (AWST; UTC+08:00), the other venue away from the east coast of Australia is Chirstchurch NZDST; UTC+13:00) • Port Moresby (PNGST; UTC+10:00) shares a time zone with Queensland (AEST; UTC+10:00). During the tournament, the time in New South Wales (AEDT; UTC+11:00) and the rest of the east coast will be advanced one hour due to daylight saving time. --> ==Stadiums==

Eleven venues have been selected. ==Legacy==

With the announcement of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup, International Rugby League (IRL) also announced a long awaited international rugby league calendar dating from 2023 to 2030, citing the cancellations of the 2025 tournament as "the perfect opportunity" to refresh the international game. The calendar confirmed the already arranged 2023 Tonga tour of England, and also announced a 2025 Kangaroo tour of England and France (which will include the revival of The Ashes), 2027 Kiwi tour of England, 2028 Kangaroo tour of England, and a 2029 tour between England and an unconfirmed Pacific Nation. The calendar also announced that the Women's Rugby League World Cup would be a stand alone event starting in 2028. In addition, there would be a renewed focus on regional tournaments to aid in developing lesser rugby league nations. In 2025, The Guardian credited the success of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup as being key to this change. However following a tendering process, IRL announced that the decision to have three separate tournaments in different years was reversed and the next World Cups would be held concurrently in 2030. ==References==