Full WC qualifying details

[langpark]

To be announced today, 8am UK time, 5pm AEST.

 

[The Partisan]

Good news.

Gives opportunity for some travel plans to be made for those interested in a little bit of RL in their country / region of destination.

Also helps those 'on the ground' to promote the game.

 

[morningstar]

European Qualifying process announced...

http://www.rlif.com/rugby-league-international-news/article/1550/european-qualifiers-for-world-cup

There is added resonance to this summer's Rugby League European B and C Championships, as they will form part of the European qualifying process for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, to be held in the Antipodes.

Latvia and Spain meet in Riga on 9th May in the opening match, the winners joining Greece and Malta in European Championship C. The nation that emerges on top in that competition will go forward to the final World Cup qualifying pools in 2016.

The reverse fixtures in 2014-5 European Championship B, which will play to a conclusion this summer, will see the top three nations will go through to the final World Cup qualifying pools in 2016. Currently, three nations are tied at the top – Serbia, Russia and Italy – with Ukraine yet to get off the mark but still in contention.

Serbia head coach Marko Jankovic commented, "In our eyes, we are already deep into the qualifiers, as we knew the 2014 matches would be connected to the World Cup.

"We are part of a very interesting competition and aware that the road to Australia and New Zealand will be tough, not only for us but also for the other teams. I wouldn't write the Eastern bloc nations off, including us."

"Our focus at the moment is on the forthcoming Russia match as we are determined to stay on top of our current competition."

The European Championship B and C nations who win through will be joined by seeds Ireland and Wales in a drawn, round-robin, two group World Cup qualifying tournament in autumn 2016.

The sides that finish top of those respective groups will go through to the World Cup, together with the winners of a play off for the final berth between the second-placed nations, held at a neutral venue; Leigh Sports Village in England.

Rugby League Ireland director Richard Egan is looking forward to his nation's involvement. "We are eagerly anticipating the RLWC qualifiers to capitalise on exciting times for the organisation," he said.

"2015 sees a new title sponsor for Ireland as well as a new home with a view to developing further our domestic players on the international stage."

"All this bodes well for the qualifiers and the future, we are hopeful of qualification for another World Cup."

Wales RL COO Chris Thair noted, "There is real positivity emanating from Wales Rugby League at the moment, we blooded a lot of young welsh talent in the 2014 European Championships."

"The format to the World Cup qualifying matches in 2016 looks really exciting and will add further value to renewing our annual battles against Ireland, Scotland and France later this year in the European Championships; it is a fabulous time to be involved. "

Wales coach John Kear added, "It is with great excitement that I look forward to the upcoming three years of international rugby league, we are all excited and invigorated by the challenges that World Cup qualification involves."

"We want to be amongst the best!"

FIXTURES
European Championship C - 2015
9 May – Latvia v Spain - Riga
26 Sep – Latvia/Spain v Greece - TBD
10 Oct – Malta v Greece - Marsa
17 Oct – Greece v Latvia/Spain - Athens

European Championship B - 2015 Current table
P W L D For Ag Diff Points
1 Serbia 3 2 1 0 91 40 51 4
2 Russia 3 2 1 0 62 46 16 4
3 Italy 3 2 1 0 82 75 7 4
4 Ukraine 3 0 3 0 44 118 -74 0

Fixtures
16 May – Serbia v Russia - Belgrade
20 June – Italy v Serbia - Gemona
27 June – Ukraine v Russia *
18 July – Ukraine v Italy - Kiev
12 Sept – Ukraine v Serbia - Uzhgorod / Russia v Italy - Moscow

*Due to the ongoing political tensions between Russia and Ukraine and Ukrainian legislation limiting the freedom of movement of males aged 18-60, the Ukraine v Russia match has a provisional date. The RLEF will monitor the situation and consider appropriate actions.

2017 World Cup – European Qualifying Tournament 2016
A live draw will take place on 5th November, 2015 – exactly a year before the final berth of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup is decided - to determine the make up of the two groups of three and the schedule of fixtures.

The winners of each group will qualify automatically. The second placed finishers will play off for the third and final European berth.

Each group will be played using on a round-robin format, with each nation playing one, randomly drawn match home and away.

The composition of the two groups will be decided using three live draws, conducted in October 2015, based on seniority of competition to maintain balanced groups.

Pot 1: Wales and Ireland (seeds 1 & 2) drawn to determine which is in Group 1 and which is in Group 2

Pot 2: First and second placed finishers in 2014-15 Euro B (seeds 3 & 4) drawn to determine which is in Group 1 and which is in Group 2

Pot 3: Third placed finisher in 2014-15 Euro B and winner of 2015 Euro C (seeds 5 & 6) drawn to determine which is in Group 1 and which is in Group 2
Following the composition of Group 1 and Group 2, the fixtures, which will be played on consecutive weekends, will be determined using a second live draw to select teams A, B and C in each group, and based on the following table:

Round 1: 15/16 Oct 16
Match 1 Match 2
A v B (Group 1) A v B (Group 2)

Round 2: 22/23 Oct 16
Match 3 Match 4
B v C (Group 1) B v C (Group 2)

Round 3: 29/30 Oct 16
Match 5 Match 6
C v A (Group 1) C v A (Group 2)

Final qualifier: 5 Nov 16
Match 7
Second place teams play off for final berth – Leigh

Further world cup qualification information will be announced by the RLIF over the next few days.

 

[Misanthrope]

Good to see some newer faces appearing in European World Cup qualification.

Are details for the other 'confederations' being announced today as well? Or is it a Europe specific announcement?

 

[langpark]

There was no mention of it in the article, but I believe a nation must also achieve full RLIF membership status by December 2016 in order to make the WC.

Nations involved in the qualifers that do not yet have that status are:
Latvia
Spain
Malta
Greece
Italy

Will be interesting to see what happens if one of them manage to qualify. The rules have been (beyond) bent for Scotland, will they do the same for another nation?

 

[bowes]

Why aren't Czech Republic in?

 

[langpark]

They got relegated from Group C and will just play friendly matches this year.

 

[Evil Homer]

Really dissappointing that the (TBH poorly-organized) RLEF tournaments are forming the basis for the qualification process. World Cup qualification should be a separate process open to all nations, not based on bit-part tournaments that started before the whole process was even announced. It's ridiculous that a nation like Czech Republic, who meet all the criteria, are denied entry because they were 'relegated' from last year's European C, while the likes of Spain and Latvia are free to enter because they weren't part of it (nothing against those nations). I'm a fan of Kazandjian in general but this idea of the European tournaments forming the basis for World Cup qualification is really, really stupid. At least the likes of Malta and Greece haven't been excluded like they were originally going to be.

 

[langpark]

^ I too feel for the Czechs (they're not full members btw) even though realistically, they are no chance of making it to the WC, all should be afforded the opportunity. Ideally, I think there should have been no relegation from Group C and the winner of Latvia/Spain could have joined as the 4th, make it a four-team group like all the rest. But the main issues with that were; costs (by adding one team, you suddenly have an extra 3 matches that need to be played) and the fact that two teams would get two home matches and the other two would only get one, was a bit of an issue.

 

[Evil Homer]

^ I too feel for the Czechs (they're not full members btw) even though realistically, they are no chance of making it to the WC, all should be afforded the opportunity. Ideally, I think there should have been no relegation from Group C and the winner of Latvia/Spain could have joined as the 4th, make it a four-team group like all the rest. But the main issues with that were; costs (by adding one team, you suddenly have an extra 3 matches that need to be played) and the fact that two teams would get two home matches and the other two would only get one, was a bit of an issue.

Yeah, I just don't really like the idea of regular RLEF tournaments doubling up as unofficial qualification tournaments. It's a blurred mess. Hopefully Collier puts an end to this type of thing ASAP.

 

[welshmagpie]

Yeah, I just don't really like the idea of regular RLEF tournaments doubling up as unofficial qualification tournaments. It's a blurred mess. Hopefully Collier puts an end to this type of thing ASAP.

Whilst I partly agree, I think it's great that we now have some dates and a clear layout of how qualification would work. All teams involved know the score and are fully aware of what's at stake.

 

[langpark]

Yeah, I just don't really like the idea of regular RLEF tournaments doubling up as unofficial qualification tournaments. It's a blurred mess. Hopefully Collier puts an end to this type of thing ASAP.

It's all about funding, or lack of. I think given what they are working with, they've done very well. I'm involved with a team at this level and I know while a small grant is given by the RLEF, most teams have to pay their own way to take part in these matches. Even that's a struggle, so to ask them all to do it again would be impossible.

Also, one positive is that there is big incentive for all teams to perform, in all groups.

 

[Evil Homer]

It's all about funding, or lack of. I think given what they are working with, they've done very well. I'm involved with a team at this level and I know while a small grant is given by the RLEF, most teams have to pay their own way to take part in these matches. Even that's a struggle, so to ask them all to do it again would be impossible.

Also, one positive is that there is big incentive for all teams to perform, in all groups.

Oh, I'm not saying they should've done the whole thing twice, just the WC qualification should be its own tournament. RLEF competitions can be put on hold while it's taking place. I just don't like the idea that tournaments last year had a bearing on the qualification before it had even been announced, as far as I'm concerned every team should be able to enter the qualification and start with a clean slate, with seedings based on the world rankings. I know it's not always that easy, hopefully next time we'll have at least 12 European nations entering so the structure will be a little more straightforward to work out beforehand.

 

[langpark]

Oh, I'm not saying they should've done the whole thing twice, just the WC qualification should be its own tournament. RLEF competitions can be put on hold while it's taking place. I just don't like the idea that tournaments last year had a bearing on the qualification before it had even been announced, as far as I'm concerned every team should be able to enter the qualification and start with a clean slate, with seedings based on the world rankings. I know it's not always that easy, hopefully next time we'll have at least 12 European nations entering so the structure will be a little more straightforward to work out beforehand.

Yeah that would be good, hopefully there's a bit more funding available post-2017 too.

The nations of Group B all knew beforehand though (start of last year) that the final group standings would count towards WC qualification, they're not just learning this now.

 

[paulmac]

Good points : Schedule announced very early allowing all teams to plan and prepare early.
Bad points : Exclusion of Czech Rep Norway Belgium etc ,No TV coverage ,No provisions for minimum home grown players.Serbia,Russia and Ukraine are no chance despite having stronger domestic set ups than Italy, Greece and even Ireland.

 

[langpark]

Good points : Schedule announced very early allowing all teams to plan and prepare early.
Bad points : Exclusion of Czech Rep Norway Belgium etc ,No TV coverage ,No provisions for minimum home grown players.Serbia,Russia and Ukraine are no chance despite having stronger domestic set ups than Italy, Greece and even Ireland.

Not true. This is how many heritage players are allowed to be used:
Group C: 4
Group B: 7
Group A: unlimited

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Different rules for different teams. Genius.

 

[langpark]

Different rules for different teams. Genius.

Are you serious!? It's perfect, it's designed to reflect the strength of your domestic league. The Serbian League, for example is well ahead of say, the Greek League, which is why they're allowed to use more heritage players. It's also a reflection of the strength of the 3 groups. No point having a team full of heritage players playing a team like Latvia.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

There's no point having teams full of heritage players full stop.

 

[paulmac]

LP I think those numbers are only for the RLEF comps not the RLWC qualifiers in 2016.Would love to be wrong though.The October timing of those qualifiers leads me to believe that all nations will fill thier teams with as many NRL/SL players as possible.