2026 Rugby League World Cup

Originally due to be staged in the US and Canada in 2025,^[3][4] the offer was withdrawn due to financial concerns.^[5] In 2022, hosting was awarded to France.^[6][7][8] In May 2023, the French organisers pulled out of hosting the games.^[9][10]

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.^[1][2] On 24 July 2024, the IRL announced that Australia would host the 2026 tournament, with a number of games played in Papua New Guinea.^[11][12]

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.^[13][14][15] Te Kaha is known as One New Zealand Stadium for sponsorship reasons as is due to be opened in April 2026.^[14]

The Wollongong Entertainment Centre was selected as the venue for all matches in the Wheelchair World Cup.^[13]

14 nations have qualified for the three tournaments:

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

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

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to knockout stage
2	Cook Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Fiji	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	New Zealand (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Pos	Pool	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	B	England	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to knockout stage
2	C	France	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	B	Lebanon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	C	Papua New Guinea (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	C	Tonga	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	B	Samoa	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to knockout stage
2	England	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Samoa	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Wales	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Fiji	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to knockout stage
2	France	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	New Zealand (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Papua New Guinea (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to knockout stage
2	Ireland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	United States	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Ranking semi-finals
4	Wales	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to knockout stage
2	France	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	New Zealand	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Ranking semi-finals
4	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

In Australia, Seven Network won rights to the tournament in a $12 million deal.^[16] The deal was confirmed on 22 October 2025.^[17]

Region	Broadcaster	Free-to-Air/ Subscription	Details
Australia	Seven Network	Free-to-Air	All men's, women's, and wheelchair matches.[16][17]
New Zealand	Sky Sport	Subscription	All men's, women's, and wheelchair matches.[18]

Collectively, matches have been scheduled at eleven venues in nine cities.^{[13][19][20][21]} 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.^[13]

The other city to supply two venues is Wollongong, where the adjacent venues Wollongong Entertainment Centre (WIN Entertainment Centre) and Wollongong Showground (WIN Stadium) are to be used. The former is to be used for all wheelchair matches. Immediately following on from the opening pair of wheelchair matches, the latter will host a women's match and then a men's match.^[13]

The majority of matches have been scheduled in multiple match game day formats.^[13][14][22] There are just three stand-alone matches. All three involve the Australian men's team.

Schedule of matches (all three tournaments)

Date	Early Afternoon			Mid Afternoon			Late Afternoon			Evening/Night			Venue
15 Oct		—			—			—		Australia	M	NZ	Sydney
16 Oct		—			—		Samoa	M	France	Australia	W	Samoa	Parramatta
17 Oct	PNG	W	France	PNG	M	Lebanon		—			—		Port Moresby
17 Oct		—			—		England	W	Wales	England	M	Tonga	Perth
18 Oct		—		NZ	W	Fiji	Fiji	M	Cook Is.		—		Newcastle
23 Oct		—			—		Samoa	W	Wales	Tonga	M	Lebanon	Parramatta
24 Oct	PNG	W	Fiji	PNG	M	Samoa		—			—		Port Moresby
24 Oct		—			—		England	M	France	Australia	W	England	Perth
25 Oct		—			—		NZ	W	France	NZ	M	Cook Is.	Christchurch
25 Oct		—			—			—		Australia	M	Fiji	Brisbane
30 Oct	Ireland	WC	USA	England	WC	Wales	England	W	Samoa	England	M	PNG	Wollongong
31 Oct		—		Fiji	W	France	NZ	M	Fiji	NZ	W	PNG	Gold Coast
31 Oct		—			—		France	WC	Scotland	Australia	WC	NZ	Wollongong
31 Oct		—			—			—		Australia	M	Cook Is.	Townsville
1 Nov		—		Australia	W	Wales	Lebanon	M	France	Tonga	M	Samoa	Parramatta
3 Nov	France	WC	NZ	Australia	WC	Scotland	Ireland	WC	Wales	England	WC	USA	Wollongong
6 Nov	Scotland	WC	NZ	Wales	WC	USA	England	WC	Ireland	Australia	WC	France	Wollongong
7 Nov		—			—		Pool B 1st	W	2nd Pool A	Pool B+C 1st	M	2nd Pool A	Newcastle
8 Nov		—			—		Pool A 1st	W	2nd Pool B	Pool A 1st	M	2nd Pool B+C	Sydney
9 Nov	Pool B 3rd	WC	4th Pool A	Pool A 3rd	WC	4th Pool B		—			—		Wollongong
10 Nov		—			—		Pool B 1st	WC	2nd Pool A	Pool A 1st	WC	2nd Pool B	Wollongong
12 Nov	7th place	WC	Play-off	5th place	WC	Play-off		—			—		Wollongong
13 Nov		—			—		3rd place	WC	Play-off	the	WC	Final	Wollongong
15 Nov		—			—		the	W	Final	the	M	Final	Brisbane

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.