2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup qualification explained

The 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup qualification was announced on December. It will feature four confederation qualification tournaments for each of the four International Rugby League confederations (Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Middle East-Africa). The two group winners of Europe will directly qualify, while the playoff winner of the two runners up will face the winners of other three tournaments in the 2025 World Series for the final two spots in the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup.[1] [2]

Qualification is open to all full and affiliate member nations who did not qualify via the 2021 World Cup.

Qualified teams

TeamMethod of
qualification
Date of
qualification
Total
times
qualified
Last
time
qualified
Current
consecutive
appearances
data-sort-type="number"Previous best
performance
2021 Group A winners5 November 202244Semi-finals (2008, 2013, 2017, 2021)
2021 Group A runners-up5 November 2022220212Semi-finals (2021)
2021 Group B winners6 November 202266Winners (2013, 2017, 2021)
2021 Group B runners-up6 November 2022620216Winners (2000, 2003, 2008)
Europe Group A winner22 June 202411First appearance
Europe Group B winner22 June 2024520212Semi-finals (2013)
TBCAsia-Pacific winner2024
TBCWorld Series winners2025

Confederation tournaments

Asia-Pacific

Tournament details TBD: First place qualifies for the World Cup, second place qualifies for the 2025 World Series.

Americas

Americas qualification was to have been a four way competition between Brazil, Canada, Jamaica and the USA, with a semi-finals then final format based on IRL rankings, with the winner progressing to the 2025 World Series.[3]

In June 2024, Brazil withdrew from the tournament due to funding and logistical difficulties.[4]

Seeding and group draws

The original draw and schedule was announced 30 January 2024 and would have seen Canada play Jamaica and USA play Brazil in the semi-finals.[3]

TeamRanking
7th
11th
16th
22nd

The revised schedule will see Jamaica play USA, with the winners playing Canada for the place in the 2026 tournament.[4] Canada will play a friendly against the USA Pioneers in lieu of their semi-final match.[4]

Final

Europe

Seven teams are entered into the competition. The two lowest ranked teams, Italy and the Netherlands, will play each other in a preliminary play-off match. The resulting six teams are split into two groups of three. The two group winning countries qualify for the World Cup, while the runners up in each group will play-off for a spot in the 2025 World Series.

Seeding and group draws

The draw for the groups was made on 17 January 2024, with fixtures confirmed on 7 February.[5] [6] Teams were seeded in pairs (highest ranked with second ranked, third with fourth and fifth with sixth) based on their IRL ranking on the date of the draw with one team from each pair in each group.

Group AGroup B
TeamRankTeamRank
8th5th
9th10th
/
16th/
18th
12th

Group stage

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World Series playoff

The IRL World Rankings were updated in July 2024 following the group stage of the European qualification tournament. This saw Greece move up one spot to ninth and Ireland drop one spot to tenth. As a result, Greece will host the World Series playoff.[7]

Middle East-Africa

Kenya will host Nigeria in a two match test series for a spot in the 2025 World Series.[8]

World Series

The 2025 World Series will be played by:

  • Americas winner
  • Asia-Pacific runner-up
  • or (European group runners-up playoff winner)
  • Middle East-Africa winners

The winner will qualify for the World Cup.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rugby League World Cup 2026 women's qualifying process announced. Rugby League International Federation.
  2. Web site: 2026 Rugby League World Cup: Women's qualification process announced, with four nations' places already secured. December 15, 2023. LoveRugbyLeague.
  3. Web site: Americas women's WC qualifiers announced . europeanrugbyleague.com . European Rugby League . 30 January 2024 . 30 January 2024.
  4. Web site: Americas RLWCQ draw revised after removal of Brazil . Rugby League International Federation . 17 June 2024 . 17 June 2024.
  5. Web site: Celtic nations to face each otherin WC qualifying draw . European Rugby League . 17 January 2024 . 9 February 2024.
  6. Web site: Fixtures confirmed for women's WC European qualifiers . European Rugby League . 9 February 2024 . 7 February 2024.
  7. Web site: Women's European RLWC qualifying play off confirmed . European Rugby League . 9 August 2024 . en . 9 August 2024.
  8. Web site: Details announced for MEA Women's World Cup qualifiers . europeanrugbyleague.com . European Rugby League . 21 February 2024 . 21 February 2024.