INTERNATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE (IRL) has set out the qualification process for the 2025 World Cup, including the first ever qualifiers for the women’s tournament.
The men’s World Cup will, like this year, have 16 teams participating, with nine qualifying automatically (hosts France plus quarter-finalists Australia, England, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga).
Of the remaining seven slots, four will be European nations, two from the Americas, and one will be decided by an inter-regional repechage.
The European Championship will decide the four qualifiers from that continent, with two groups playing in 2023 – Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Serbia, Spain and Wales are involved in one with World Cup spots up for grabs, while those that miss out in that will, in 2024, have another chance in qualifiers against the nations that advance from another group next year involving Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway and Ukraine.
The two Americas qualifiers will be decided by the 2023 Americas Championship, involving Brazil – who saw off Chile and Colombia last month in the South American Championship – Canada, Jamaica and USA.
And in 2024, Cook Islands will play the winners of the 2023 Middle East Africa (MEA) Cup, between Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, for the final place in the World Cup.
For the women’s tournament, a qualification process will take place for the first time, ahead of an expansion from eight teams to 16 in 2025.
The eight World Cup participants this year – Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cook Islands, England, France, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea – will be joined by eight qualifiers.
Four of these will come from Europe, where Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Serbia, Turkey and Wales will compete in 2023 in two qualifying groups with the top two sides in each group qualifying.
One team will qualify from the Asia Pacific region, with Fiji, Samoa and Tonga to play each other in 2024.
One will also progress from the Americas, with Chile, Jamaica and USA to battle in 2024, and one in the MEA region, which Cameroon, Ghana, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa will compete for, also in 2024.
There will be no qualification for the wheelchair tournament in 2025, however, with an expression of interest and invitation process used to determine who will play in France.
IRL Chair Troy Grant said: “We now look forward to France 2025 and during the next three years there will be enormous opportunities to continue the growth of international Rugby League, with qualifying tournaments in each region of the globe.
“After the difficulties of the past few years due to Covid and travel restrictions, the opportunities for international Rugby League have never been greater as we prepare for the biggest and boldest World Cup yet in France in 2025.”