Rlwc 2026

[Wb1234]

 

[Wb1234]

Australia confirmed as host for three Rugby League World Cups in 2026

www.rugby-league.com

No nz hosting games is just stupid

 

[Coastbloke]

This is going to be a nightmare for the International game..

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Can't wait for it. Hopefully we get a SF and the Final at Suncorp

 

[titoelcolombiano]

NZ would have been good for the Tonga and Samoa fans, but we could definitely recreate that atmosphere CommBank. Just got to get the scheduling sorted. Right game, right ground.

Tonga and Samoa, Western Sydney.
Lebanon, Belmore or Leichhardt
New Zealand, England and Australia can play pool games at HBF, AAMI, Newcastle, Townsville, Wollongong
PNG, Fiji, Cook Islands and France in PNG

SF SFS and Suncorp
F SFS or Suncorp

 

[PARRA_FAN]

I thought it was already confirmed

Anyway, hopefully we'll see games at Commbank, SFS and Newcastle, considering the last WC here the NSW Government couldnt be bothered.

 

[Perth Red]

Lets hope Australia do a better job of hosting it than last time!

Makes sense to leave NZ out of it so they (maybe with Fiji?) can host the next one or one after next.

 

[Perth Red]

Possible venues:

Pool games and 1/4 finals:
HBF Park (Upgraded, Perth)
AAMI Park (Melbourne)
NQ stadium (Townsville)
Newcastle (NSW)
Canberra (ACT)
Gold Coast (Qlnd)
Commbank (Sydney)
Panthers stadium (Sydney)
Port Moresby (upgraded, PNG)

Semi Finals & Final
Allianz (Sydney)
AAMI (Melbourne)
Suncorp (Brisbane)

Final goes to whichever city wants to bid most for it out of Brisbane and Sydney

Run womens cup alongside as all double header events at same stadium

 

[Perth Red]

So with it only being a ten team tournament (mens) will we have two groups of 3 and one of 4 or two groups of 5 I wonder?

Those qualified from last 1/4 finals
NZ
Aus
Eng
Sam
Tong
Fiji
PNG
lebanese

two spots up for grabs between:
Cook Islands, Jamaica, South Africa + winner of France, Serbia, Wales and Ukraine.

Shame either wales or france will miss out on chance of going through. Arguably both are stronger than Jamiaca and Sth Africa. To only have two teams at most from Europe in a RLWC seems massive backward step for the game.

 

[Perth Red]

Would an ideal two group look like?

Group 1
Aus
NZ
lebanese
PNG
Fij

Group 2
Eng
Fra
Tong
Sam
Cook Is

Possible opening weekend

Group 1
Rd1
Aus v NZ - Commbank (opening ceremony)
PNG v Fiji - Port Moresby
lebanese - bye

Group 2
Rd1
Eng v Fra - Perth
Tong v Sam - Penrith
Cook Is - bye

 

[Coastbloke]

Lets hope Australia do a better job of hosting it than last time!

Makes sense to leave NZ out of it so they (maybe with Fiji?) can host the next one or one after next.

Exactly. No matches in NSW and a 6-0 final against England with 12,000 people missing..

 

[Coastbloke]

Anyone think France will get a spot in the final 10? Wales will stack their team with SL players..

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Anyone think France will get a spot in the final 10? Wales will stack their team with SL players..

France should be fine, they've got a good pool of pro players. Having said that, it would be very on brand for French RL to shit the bed

 

[Perth Red]

We've gone from having wales, scotland, Ireland, france and england in RLWC's to possibly only England. Sigh.

I think they need to do away with the 1/4 final auto qualifications. Have the 4 semi teams as auto qualifying then everyone else has to play in lead up tournaments.
15 team comp. 3 groups of 5. Every team then gets at least 4 world cup games.

 

[RL The greatest game]

It could be interesting

MEN’S EUROPEAN WORLD CUP QUALIFYING DETAILS CONFIRMED

France will host the men’s European qualifying competition for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup, with the winners becoming the continent’s representative in the inaugural 2025 World Series to face Jama...

europeanrugbyleague.com

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Would an ideal two group look like?

Group 1
Aus
NZ
lebanese
PNG
Fij

Group 2
Eng
Fra
Tong
Sam
Cook Is

Possible opening weekend

Group 1
Rd1
Aus v NZ - Commbank (opening ceremony)
PNG v Fiji - Port Moresby
lebanese - bye

Group 2
Rd1
Eng v Fra - Perth
Tong v Sam - Penrith
Cook Is - bye

In the absence of a quarter finals stage, I'd go two groups of 5.


Pool A
Aus
Samoa
Tonga
Lebanon
France

Pool B
NZL
England
PNG
Fiji
Cook Islands

Samoa, Tonga, Lebanon are all able to draw on a decent fan base in Australia. If you schedule intelligently you'll get a reasonably competitive pool, with well attended matches. You'd even schedule Tonga v Samoa in front of a likely packed Commbank as the final match of the pool which will almost certainly decide which one goes through to the semi.

Let Lebanon play all their games at one ground like say Belmore and Leichardt and turn it into a Lebanese cultural festival vibe.

Take the French grounds to the regional centres if you have to, like Tamworth, Bathurst, Mackay etc to ensure we get as close as possible to 10k for those games.

I'd play all games in Pool B in PNG with the exception of NZ v England, where I'd try and draw a reasonable crowd of around 15k to Gold Coast, Townsville, Perth, Melbourne or Newcastle. This would yield a match average of 12 - 14k which is respectable.

 

[Bulldog2020]

I would be tempted for the Men's world cup to only have two games in Sydney. Kangaroos first game at Allianz and the Final at Accor and try sell them out.

 

[taste2taste]

Anyone think France will get a spot in the final 10? Wales will stack their team with SL players..

Hopefully France make it, they weren't too bad against England a few weeks ago, the game didn't blow out until the final 10 minutes.

Cook Islands will definitely qualify, they'll stack thier team with heritage players, Jamaica and Wales will be challenging France for that last spot with thier teams also stacked with heritage players.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

It could be interesting

MEN’S EUROPEAN WORLD CUP QUALIFYING DETAILS CONFIRMED

France will host the men’s European qualifying competition for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup, with the winners becoming the continent’s representative in the inaugural 2025 World Series to face Jama...

europeanrugbyleague.com

Serbia, Ukraine, Greece and France play multiple tests a year and Wales haven't been arsed playing a single one since the last world cup... that's f**ked and it makes it hard to have sympathy for them going backwards. They along with France should be knocking on the door in Europe like Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and PNG are in the Pacific

 

[siv]

Anyone think France will get a spot in the final 10? Wales will stack their team with SL players..

As they should