The 2017 Rugby League World Cup Europe qualification was a rugby league tournament held in October and November 2016 to decide the three European qualifiers for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
It consisted of a round-robin tournament which saw Wales and Ireland qualify by winning their respective tables. Italy claimed the final qualifying spot in the World Cup after winning a second place play-off against Russia on 4 November 2016.
On 3 October 2014, the 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying competition was announced.[1] Three European teams were granted automatic qualification, as they had reached the quarter-finals of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup; England, France and Scotland.
Ten teams were able to qualify for the qualification tournament, with the first being eliminated when Spain defeated Latvia on 9 May 2015.[2]
Wales and Ireland were granted entry to the qualification tournament. Both teams already had a chance to qualify for the World Cup during the 2014 European Cup, but failed to do so.[3] One of the other tournament places was allocated to the winner of the European Championship C tournament, and the other three were allocated to the top three teams from the European Championship B.
Italy, Russia and Serbia finished as the top three teams in the European Championship B, with Ukraine being eliminated.[4]
Spain finished as the top team in the European Championship C, with Greece and Malta eliminated.
Qualified teams for final phase:
The final Ireland 22-man squad as of 9 October 2016 is as follows:[5]
| Club Team | Players | |
|---|---|---|
| Casey Dunne | ||
| Gareth Gill | ||
| Chris Hall | ||
| Joseph Keyes | ||
| James Kelly, Mikey Russell | ||
| Alan McMahon | ||
| Luke Ambler | ||
| Scott Grix, Oliver Roberts | ||
| Matthew Cahoon | ||
| Greg McNally | ||
| Will Hope | ||
| James Hasson | ||
| Danny Bridge | ||
| Matty Hadden | ||
| Shannon McDonnell | ||
| Liam Finn | ||
| George King, Toby King, Joe Philbin | ||
The final Italy 22-man squad as of 8 October 2016 is as follows:[6]
Cameron Ciraldo| Club Team | Players | |
|---|---|---|
| Dean Parata | ||
| Patrik Ziliotti | ||
| Joel Riethmuller | ||
| Joseph Tramontana | ||
| Jayden Walker | ||
| Terry Campese, Josh Mantellato | ||
| Christophe Calegari | ||
| Gavin Hiscox | ||
| Gioele Celerino | ||
| Justin Castellaro, Ryan Ghietti, Colin Wilkie | ||
| Kieran Quabba | ||
| Richard Lepori | ||
| Mirco Bergamasco | ||
| Shannon Wakeman | ||
| Chris Vitalini | ||
| Brenden Santi | ||
| Ryan Tramonte | ||
| Chris Centrone |
The final Russia 22-man squad as of 6 September 2016 is as follows:[7]
Denis Korolev| Club Team | Players | |
|---|---|---|
| Kirill Kosharin | ||
| Viacheslav Eremin, Andrey Kuznetsov | ||
| Ivan Troitskii | ||
| Vadim Buryak, Leonid Kalinin, Maxim Tsinkovich | ||
| Petr Botnarash, Mikhail Burlutskii, Sergey Gaponov, Anatoly Grigorev, Sergei Konstantinov, Aleksandr Lysokon, Maksim Suchkov, Denis Tiulenev, Vladimir Vlasyuk, Nikolay Zagoskin | ||
| Anton Iunisov, Iustin Petrushka | ||
| Dmitry Bratko, Igor Chuprin, Vadim Fedchuk |
The final 22-man squad as of 5 October 2016 is as follows:[8]
| Club Team | Players | |
|---|---|---|
| Blacktown Workers | David Andjelić | |
| Reece Grkinić | ||
| Daniel Burke | ||
| Jason Muranka | ||
| Dalibor Samardžić, Dalibor Vukanović, Stefan Nedeljković, Stevan Stevanović | ||
| Joshua Marjanović | ||
| Džavid Jašari, Vlado Kušić | ||
| Pero Madžarević, Žarko Kovačević | ||
| Miloš Ćalić, Miloš Zogović, Vladislav Dedić, Vojislav Dedić | ||
| Chad Grant | ||
| Vladica Nikolić | ||
| James Mirceski | ||
| Jordan Grant | ||
| Unattached | Ilija Radan |
The final 22-man squad as of 4 October 2016 is as follows:[9]
| Club Team | Players | |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Lopez | ||
| Custodians Madrid | Antonio Puerta, Daniel Moreno | |
| Joel Marquez-Laynez | ||
| Ivan Ordaz | ||
| Clement Laguerre | ||
| Alexandre Doutres, Cedric Bringuier, Leandre Torres, Mathieu Griffi, Pierre Negre | ||
| Matt Dulley | ||
| Miguel Charters-Blanco | ||
| Kevin Aparicio | ||
| Gonzalo Morro | ||
| Aitor Davila, Juan Pablo Rango, Raul Simo | ||
| Daniel Garcia |
The final Wales 22-man squad as of 7 October 2016 is as follows:[10]
On October 14, Dai Evans was brought into the squad to replace Calvin Wellington who withdrew due to a hamstring injury.[11]
On October 21, 19-year old Ben Morris was called up to the squad to play in a mid-qualifying campaign test match against Jamaica.[12]
On October 29, Danny Ansell was called up to the squad with a possibility of playing in the last qualifying game against Italy.[13]
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See main article: article and 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualification (Europe play-off). The final qualifying place was determined by a single knockout match held between the two group runners-up on 4 November 2016.