RLWC 2026 Details soon per official account

[England87]

So unless youre in group A, lose 1 game in the pool stage and your are outttta errreee.

I feel like these will be the groups.

A
AUSTRALIA
NEW ZEALAND
FRANCE
COOK ISLANDS

B
ENGLAND
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
FIJI

C
TONGA
SAMOA
LEBANON

CROSS POOL GAMES

ENGLAND v LEBANON
PAPUA NEW GUINEA v SAMOA
TONGA v FIJI

 

[Taking The Two]

Do we need a smaller group? Can we not just have 2x 5’s? Everyone plays four games, top two through to the semi’s.

 

[England87]

Do we need a smaller group? Can we not just have 2x 5’s? Everyone plays four games, top two through to the semi’s.

10000000% agree. Two pools of 5 with Semis and a Final condensed over 6 weeks rather than this 5 week tournament would be so much better

 

[undertaker]

10000000% agree. Two pools of 5 with Semis and a Final condensed over 6 weeks rather than this 5 week tournament would be so much better

I am 100% in favour of the 2 pools of 5 teams format for a 10 team tournament (23 matches in total, comprising of 10 in each pool, 2 semis and the final), but there's absolutely no way the IRL would ever agree to a 6 week World Cup (especially with the additional 2 weeks on the official 2026 RLWC format only contributing 5 extra matches)

5 weeks or 6 rounds of matches - such as the last World Cup in 2022 with 16 teams - would be the maximum duration that would ever be allowed by the IRL....and even then, it could be another World Cup or two before we see 16 teams again. Cutting from 16 to 10 clearly shows the IRL's short-sightedness. Bad mistake.

 

[undertaker]

So unless youre in group A, lose 1 game in the pool stage and your are outttta errreee.

I feel like these will be the groups.

A
AUSTRALIA
NEW ZEALAND
FRANCE
COOK ISLANDS

B
ENGLAND
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
FIJI

C
TONGA
SAMOA
LEBANON

CROSS POOL GAMES

ENGLAND v LEBANON
PAPUA NEW GUINEA v SAMOA
TONGA v FIJI

Not necessarily. Group B/C teams can still make the semis dropping a match.

The part that will be controversial is not so much the team allocations for Groups B/C, but the match-ups for the cross-group match. The result from that one match will end up determining their fate (re: finals qualification), and there's always complaints that certain teams got an easier opponent than others etc.

 

[Foreign Legion]

I'd much rather see a 12 team WC with 4 pools of 3 teams. And then to make up the extra game, you play 1 team from another pool to make up 3 games.

 

[adamkungl]

The 1 thing they simply can not copy from 2008 is the top 3 teams in Pool A with all 3 going through.

Having an unbalanced pool is an unfortunate necessity of the expected format but other than that it should be seeded evenly.

Assuming 3 seeded pots X Y Z,
Either have

Pool A: X X Y Z
Pool B: X Y Z
Pool C: X Y Z
With 2 from pool A going through.
Problem is it's basically a hiding to nothing for teams Y and Z in every pool.
Eg.
Pool A: Australia - New Zealand - Samoa - Lebanon
Pool B: Tonga - PNG - France
Pool C: England - Fiji - Cook Islands
(Cross pool matches: Tonga v England, PNG v Fiji , France v Cook Islands)
In most configurations of this format its fairly predictable who goes through in all 4 spots due to putting NZ in Pool A.


Or my preferred method as it promotes far more fair competition for 4th semi final spot:
Pool A: X Y Y Z
Pool B: X Y Z
Pool C: X Y Z
With the 4th spot decided by 'wildcard' method, ie. The next highest record across all pools.

The cross pool BC matches should be XvX, YvY, ZvZ. This ensures that every team plays 1 each of X Y Z.

So my World cup might look like this:
Pool A: England - Fiji - PNG - Cook Islands
Pool B: New Zealand - Samoa - France
Pool C: Australia - Tonga - Lebanon
(Cross pool matches: Australia v New Zealand, Samoa v Tonga, France v Lebanon)
I've picked groups so that
- all groups have a tight contest for 1st and 2nd place
- all groups have 1 non-pacific team
- the cross pool games are good match ups


Based on previous experience and the lack of coherent thought that goes into formats, I fully expect them to go with the crappy first method

 

[Foreign Legion]

Seven secures Rugby League World Cup 2026 | TV Tonight

One month of matches from October 2026, plus The Agenda Setters: Rugby League across the NRL season.

tvtonight.com.au

 

[Growthegame]

Confirmed that the tournament opener will be on October 15 (which is a Thursday):

Rugby League World Cup arrives on Seven and 7plus Sport

Australia’s chase for glory will air live, free and exclusive as part of Seven’s supercharged rugby league coverage.

7news.com.au

Also, another clue to the format....if there's 18 matches in the men's tournament (according to that article above) and 10 teams, the format will be as follows:

- 10 teams divided into 3 groups - Group A (4 teams), Group B (3 teams), and Group C (3 teams).
- Australia and New Zealand will be in Group A, since they're playing the tournament opener
- The 3 matches Papua New Guinea plays during the group stage will be held in Papua New Guinea, with the other 15 matches in the tournament held in Australia.
- In Group A, each team plays each other team once (i.e. 6 matches). So, each team plays three matches.
- In Groups B and C, it is also a round-robin. However, there will also be an inter-group match, so that like in Group A, each team in these two groups also ends up playing 3 matches during the group phase.
- Top 2 teams from Group A, and the top team from each of Group B and C will advance through to the semi-finals.
- Runner-up from Group A will play the winner of the group that England is in.
- Winner of Group A will play the winner of the group that England isn't in.
- Although not 100% confirmed, most likely the two winners from the upcoming RLWC qualifiers will take up the two other spots in Group A.

Therefore, total number of matches is 6 (Group A) + 3 (Group B) + 3 (Group C) + 3 (inter-group match between a team in Group B and a team in Group C) + 2 (semi-finals) + 1 (final) = 18.

The format is nearly the same as the 1995 RLWC, but with an additional 3 matches as a result of the inter-group concept. So, the tournament will end up spanning 30 days, with the final most likely to be held at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night, November 14.

It's just a big shame that the IRL reduced the tournament to 10 teams. Also, with only 18 matches to play around with (compared to 28 that took place during the 2017 RLWC), the tournament organisers will be much more conservative this time around with regards to venue allocations and avoid the public backlash they thoroughly deserved eight years ago as a result of shafting NSW, where they only hosted 2 matches in the World Cup (both played at Allianz Stadium). That decision with the so-called bidding process horrendously backfired on them and neglecting rugby league-heartland sent a negative vibe throughout the tournament

Thanks ChatGPT.

 

[yakstorm]

They finally have a website https://www.rlwc2026.com/home

 

[Perth Red]

Does RL have the smallest world cup in prof sport (after afl lol)? Ten teams seems very half arsed.

 

[adamkungl]

Does RL have the smallest world cup in prof sport (after afl lol)? Ten teams seems very half arsed.

The people whinging about one-sided matches have won out unfortunately.
Problem is I guess the money men have decided the RLWC doesn't pull enough income to support paying for a longer tournament with 6 more teams who get flogged and don't bring any traveling fans.
Hopefully 12 in 2030 to cast a wider geographic net but I don't think we'll see aggressive expansion again unless the commerical side of things significantly changes.

 

[Dr T]

The people whinging about one-sided matches have won out unfortunately.
Problem is I guess the money men have decided the RLWC doesn't pull enough income to support paying for a longer tournament with 6 more teams who get flogged and don't bring any traveling fans.
Hopefully 12 in 2030 to cast a wider geographic net but I don't think we'll see aggressive expansion again unless the commerical side of things significantly changes.

I agree, and that's a shame. It sets us back when we have constantly changing formats that are hard to understand and seem unfair. Would be better to stick to a format that works even if it means there are some blowouts. 10 teams seems like such a low number given how strong some of the pacific island nations are now.

 

[adamkungl]

Detailed format report from AAP
https://aapnews.aap.com.au/news/tonga-samoa-set-for-showdown-in-new-world-cup-format/NgdGqIYB


Pool A to have 4 teams including Aus and NZ, with top 2 progressing to finals.
Pools B and C to have 3 each and a cross draw/ladder format, meaning the pool B teams draw the 3 pool C teams and vice versa, with the top 2 in the joint ladder progressing.

Assuming this is true I actually have no complaints. Big improvement on the 2008 format and as good as, if not better than, the formats I've suggested above.

Would assume semi finals of
A1 v BC2
A2 v BC1

 

[Burns]

How many games will PNG host? Three? Could be an outside chance if they were in Pool B or C, and ambush Tonga or Samoa at home?

Do England go into Pool A? Fourth team would be cannon fodder. Pray for France.

Does feel like they are setting up Semi Finals of Aus/NZ/Tonga/Samoa.

 

[eels4lifee]

Why isn't NZ not hosting any games?

 

[adamkungl]

How many games will PNG host? Three? Could be an outside chance if they were in Pool B or C, and ambush Tonga or Samoa at home?

Do England go into Pool A? Fourth team would be cannon fodder. Pray for France.

Does feel like they are setting up Semi Finals of Aus/NZ/Tonga/Samoa.

By deduction and assuming some rational thought has gone into it...

We can assume teams 1-4 (Aus NZ England Tonga) are seeds X.
5-7 (Samoa PNG Fiji) are seeds Y. 8-10 (Lebanon France Cooks/Saffas) are seeds Z.
Pool A is seeded XXYZ, the other 2 XYZ.

If reports are true we know Aus and NZ are in Pool A and Samoa and Tonga are in opposing B/C pools.
And hopefully each pool has 1 non Pacific nation.

So we get
A: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji/PNG, France/Lebanon
B: England, Samoa, Cooks/Saffas
C: Tonga, Fiji/PNG, France/Lebanon

I really hope for their sake France doesn't draw Pool A, it would be nice to see them win a game for once

Why isn't NZ not hosting any games?

Presumably because they aren't hosts.

 

[eels4lifee]

By deduction and assuming some rational thought has gone into it...

We can assume teams 1-4 (Aus NZ England Tonga) are seeds X.
5-7 (Samoa PNG Fiji) are seeds Y. 8-10 (Lebanon France Cooks/Saffas) are seeds Z.
Pool A is seeded XXYZ, the other 2 XYZ.

If reports are true we know Aus and NZ are in Pool A and Samoa and Tonga are in opposing B/C pools.
And hopefully each pool has 1 non Pacific nation.

So we get
A: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji/PNG, France/Lebanon
B: England, Samoa, Cooks/Saffas
C: Tonga, Fiji/PNG, France/Lebanon

I really hope for their sake France doesn't draw Pool A, it would be nice to see them win a game for once




Presumably because they aren't hosts.

I would have NZ over PNG anyday

 

[yakstorm]

I would have NZ over PNG anyday

The Australian Government isn't paying the NRL to host games in NZ, but they are paying for games to be played in PNG.

 

[adamkungl]

With a shorter tournament I'm fine to not have games in NZ anyway.