| World Rugby Nations Championship | |
| Sport: | Rugby union |
| Teams: | 12 |
| Gov Body: | World Rugby |
| Related Comps: | |
| Relegation To: | Challenger Series |
The World Rugby Nations Championship is an upcoming bi-annual international rugby union competition, which is scheduled to take place in the existing men's mid-year and end-of-year international windows, with the inaugural edition taking place in 2026.[1]
The competition will consist of twelve teams, involving the current Six Nations (England, France, Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and SANZAAR (Argentina, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand) unions, in addition to two unknown invited unions (widely reported to be Fiji and Japan).[2] The competition will also be held in the years when there is no British & Irish Lions tour (typically to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) or Rugby World Cup (RWC).[3]
The format of the competition will include a "European Conference", consisting of the Six Nations unions, and a "Rest of World Conference" comprising the SANZAAR nations, in addition to the two invited unions. Each team will play the six nations in their opposing conference across the July and November test windows, with a grand final to be played at the end of the November window between the first-placed teams in each conference in order to decide the tournament champion.[4]
A second division (Challenger Series), run by World Rugby, will take place concurrently and is due to consist of twelve further teams, with promotion and relegation between the divisions commencing from the start of the third edition in 2030.
The creation of the Nations Championship has received criticism for 'ring-fencing' smaller nations outside elite competition and narrowing their opportunities to play against top nations.[5] It has also been criticised for potentially devaluing the Rugby World Cup(RWC).[6] World Rugby's Chief Executive Alan Gilpin has defended against this criticism by stating “the suggestions that this just makes the rich richer are misplaced. This creates a better landscape” whilst adding that there will be “50% guaranteed more crossover fixtures” in non-tournament years.[7]