Nations Championship

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 invited unions, Fiji and Japan.^[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 "SANZAAR and Pacific Conference" comprising the SANZAAR nations, in addition to the two invited unions (Japan and Fiji). 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 competition, run by World Rugby, will take place concurrently and will consist of twelve further teams, with promotion and relegation between the divisions commencing from the start of the third edition in 2030.

With no promotion and relegation in the first two editions, the following teams will contest both the inaugural tournament and the second edition.

More information Team, Competition ...

Nations Championship

Team	Competition	Region
Northern Hemisphere
England	Six Nations Championship	Europe
France	Six Nations Championship	Europe
Ireland	Six Nations Championship	Europe
Italy	Six Nations Championship	Europe
Scotland	Six Nations Championship	Europe
Wales	Six Nations Championship	Europe
Southern Hemisphere
Argentina	The Rugby Championship	South America
Australia	The Rugby Championship	Oceania
Fiji	Pacific Nations Cup	Oceania
Japan[a]	Pacific Nations Cup	Asia
New Zealand	The Rugby Championship	Oceania
South Africa	The Rugby Championship	Africa

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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]

The following is the list of confirmed broadcast partners:

More information Territory, Rights holder ...

Territory	Rights holder	Ref.
Australia	Nine[b] Stan Sport	[10][11]
France	TF1	[12][13]
Republic of Ireland	Virgin Media Television	[14][15]
Italy	Sky Italia	[16]
Japan	Wowow	[17]
New Zealand	Sky Sport	[18][19]
United Kingdom	ITV[c]	[20]

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