2026 Nations Championship
International rugby union tournament
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The 2026 Nations Championship will be the inaugural edition of the Nations Championship, an international rugby union competition featuring twelve men's teams. The teams are divided into two pools of six, and play a full round-robin of matches with the teams in the opposing pool across the mid year and end-of-year international windows, with the top teams in each pool advancing to a Nations Championship final in London.[1]
| 2026 Nations Championship | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Date | 4 July – 29 November 2026 |
| Official website | |
| www | |
On 17 November 2025, World Rugby confirmed a second competition that would take place concurrently called the World Rugby Nations Cup.[2]
Although promotion and relegation are intended for a future date, there will be no promotion or relegation in the 2026 edition between the Nations Championship and the Nations Cup.
Participants
The following 12 nations are competing in the 2026 Nations Championship.[3][4]
Notes
Format
The Nations Championship consists of two geographic pools or conferences; the first, the European conference, consisting of the Six Nations; the second, the 'Rest of the World' conference, consisting of the Rugby Championship teams, plus Fiji and Japan. Over two international windows each team plays all the teams in the opposite pool once, three times at home, three away.[17] A cumulative north v south trophy will also be contested in this edition.[18]
The standard World Rugby points system applies; teams earn:
- 4 points for a win
- 2 points for a draw
- 0 points for a loss
- 1 bonus point for scoring 4 or more tries
- 1 bonus point for losing by fewer than 8 points.
Championship division: Tables
Southern Hemisphere
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Argentina |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Final |
| 2 |  Australia |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 |  Fiji |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 |  Japan |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 |  New Zealand |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 |  South Africa |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Northern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere Series
Southern Hemisphere teams, apart from Fiji will host all the matches.[19][18] All three of Fiji's "home" matches are played in Great Britain.[18]
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
| 18 July 2026 16:00 ART (UTC-03) |
| Argentina | v |  England |
| Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades, Santiago del Estero |
Northern Hemisphere Series
Northern Hemisphere teams will host all the matches.[18][19]
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Finals
After the six rounds, a finals series will be contested over three days with each team matched against its equivalently ranked team in the other pool to decide placements.[24][19] All finals in 2026 are to be held at Twickenham Stadium in London from, 27 to 29 November.[19]