My ideal 10 team 2026 World Cup tournament

[England87]

I was nerding out at work and came up with what I think is the perfect tournament for the 2026 10 team World Cup.

I have assumed the obvious that France & the Cookies qualify so I seeded all the nations based of current world rankings into pots and then randomly drew the teams to get 2 pools of 5.

I would congest the pool stage to 4 weeks, not ideal but this gets the show run and done in 6 weeks. Union has done it for several world cups and mid week games would be great for the broadcasters.

The big changes I have made is having the Cup held across Australia, Fiji, New Zealand & Papua New Guinea. I think this is the time to take advantage of the domestic development in PNG & Fiji plus their ability to host televised fixtures.

I have thrown the slightly 'who gives a f**k' games into double headers and added what I believe to be reasonable attendence predictions *IF* it is marketed properly. Check it out

2026 OCEANIA RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP​

A
AUSTRALIA (MAJOR HOST)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA (MINOR HOST)
ENGLAND
SAMOA
LEBANON

B
NEW ZEALAND (MAJOR HOST)
FIJI (MINOR HOST)
TONGA
FRANCE
COOK ISLANDS


ROUND 1

AUSTRALIA V SAMOA (Including Opening Ceremony) LANG PARK, BRISBANE 50,000
NEW ZEALAND V TONGA MT SMART STADIUM, AUCKLAND 28,000
FRANCE V COOK ISLANDS* *NEWCASTLE STADIUM, NEWCASTLE 15,000
ENGLAND V LEBANON* *NEWCASTLE STADIUM, NEWCASTLE 15,000

ROUND 2

PAPUA NEW GUINEA V ENGLAND PNG FOOTBALL STADIUM, PORT MORESBY 14,000
FIJI V COOK ISLANDS NATIONAL STADIUM, SUVA 10,000
AUSTRALIA V LEBANON PERTH OVAL, PERTH 16,000
NEW ZEALAND V FRANCE RUGBY LEAGUE PARK, CHRISTCHURCH 12,000

ROUND 3

TONGA V FRANCE* *WESTERN SYDNEY STADIUM, SYDNEY 22,000
SAMOA V LEBANON* *WESTERN SYDNEY STADIUM, SYDNEY 22,000
AUSTRALIA V PAPUA NEW GUINEA NORTH QUEENSLAND STADIUM, TOWNSVILLE 20,000
NEW ZEALAND V FIJI WELLINGTON STADIUM, WELLINGTON 17,000

ROUND 4

AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND SYDNEY FOOTBALL STADIUM, SYDNEY 36,000
NEW ZEALAND V COOK ISLANDS WAIKATO STADIUM, HAMILTON 12,000
PAPUA NEW GUINEA V SAMOA PNG FOOTBALL STADIUM, PORT MORESBY 14,000
FIJI V TONGA NATIONAL STADIUM, SUVA 12,000

ROUND 5

PAPUA NEW GUINEA V LEBANON PNG FOOTBALL STADIUM, PORT MORESBY 12,000
FIJI V FRANCE NATIONAL STADIUM, SUVA 10,000
TONGA V COOK ISLANDS* *MT SMART STADIUM, AUCKLAND 28,000
ENGLAND V SAMOA* *MT SMART STADIUM, AUCKLAND 28,000

SEMI FINALS

SEMI FINAL 1 - A1 V B2 LANG PARK, BRISBANE 45,000
SEMI FINAL 2 - B1 V A2 MELBOURNE RECTANGULAR STADIUM, MELBOURNE 25,000

FINAL

WORLD CUP FINAL - STADIUM AUSTRALIA, SYDNEY 75,000

 

[Last Week]

Ideally, yes this is the format that they would go with, but it's going to be the exact same as 2008 with the super pool.

Pretty sure I saw an article from the IRL last year which said that it would be an 18 match tournament, which is the exact same as 08. Your proposal is a 23 match tournament.

The only plus side with this format is that now, Tonga, Samoa and sometimes Fiji are pretty competitive, so pools B and C will have some genuine competitors in it.

And given it's being run by the NRL, I wouldn't be shocked if PNG have a strong campaign.

 

[England87]

Ahhh well that sucks

 

[Perth Red]

Id go (for blockbuster crowds)

AUSTRALIA (MAJOR HOST)
FIJI (MINOR HOST)
ENGLAND
LEBANON
FRANCE

(All games in Aus with Fiji playing all games at home sponsored by Aus govt)

B
NEW ZEALAND (MAJOR HOST)
TONGA
PAPUA NEW GUINEA (MINOR HOST)
COOK ISLANDS
SAMOA

(all games in NZ and PNG)

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Lebanese games at Belmore, tap into the community and look to get 18k crowds for their games. NZ, Tonga and Samoa are a must in a pool together in NZ.