New World Cup format confirmed for 2026

[sam4731]

4 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I wouldn't be surprised by 4-5-1, then the Aussies don't need to play any group games. 

Play off between the winners of group A and B to face Australia in the final?

[GeordieSaint]

1 hour ago, Gomersall said:

Yep. I hated it when they’d deliberately put England and Australia in the same group, with two to qualify, just so they could open the tournament with those two. 

A concept that was disproven to be a requirement in the last event. 

[The Partisan]

Apologies if this has been covered earlier in the thread but the reducing of the number of teams in a "world" titled tournament has also been evident in the Rugby Union code.

The Under 20's comp (previously played as 19's or 21s) recently played in South Africa was a twelve team tournament. 

It began in 2008 as a 16 team tournament reducing to 12 a few years later for this annual event. 

It is known as the World Championship these days. 

Played alongside it or just after is an 8 team World Trophy...held this year in Kenya....a  nearby neighbour of South Africa. This tournament commenced af the completion of the Championship.  

It is basically the second tier and has a qualifying process as well. 

Promotion and Relegation exists between the two comps. 

 

Perhaps this is an option for Rugby League to look at.

20 countries still get to play in a " World" event. 

 

In 2026 the 10 team World Cup tournament could be held in Oz / NZ ....with a 6 team World Regional Champions Trophy played alongside it in PNG / Noumea.  

Then grow it from there. Maximum of 12 in the Championship...Maximum of 8 in the Trophy. Played concurrently (like the Womens was for 2021 RLWC). 

Venues to be geographically nearby to allow a double header finals day or two seperate finals accessible to fans attending both tournaments.

So 2030 it is England / Wales with the trophy in France. 

Fast forward to 2054 ... It is a Centenary World Championship event in France ....with a Trophy tournament in the Netherlands.   (Maybe a third tier shield in Serbia to celebrate their centenary in RL )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by The Partisan

[Dave T]

23 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

Play off between the winners of group A and B to face Australia in the final?

Perfect

[gingerjon]

40 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

Play off between the winners of group A and B to face Australia in the final?

An old style challenge tournament approach …

[Damien]

If we are changing everything and going down to 10 then it is only right that the qualification process changes. Having 8 quarter finalists from the previous world cup qualifying automatically only leaves 2 spots available for everyone else. That isn't enough to have proper qualifiers to give other nations something to aim for. Obviously though this isn't changing because it gives 6 southern hemisphere nations plus Lebanon, all full of NRL heritage and Australian players so nice and cheap that way with full control for the NRL.

[Keith989]

8 minutes ago, Damien said:

If we are changing everything and going down to 10 then it is only right that the qualification process changes. Having 8 quarter finalists from the previous world cup qualifying automatically only leaves 2 spots available for everyone else. That isn't enough to have proper qualifiers to give other nations something to aim for. Obviously though this isn't changing because it gives 6 southern hemisphere nations plus Lebanon, all full of NRL heritage and Australian players so nice and cheap that way with full control for the NRL.

Are you against heritage sides now? Or is it the NRL influence that you are worried about? 

[Damien]

17 minutes ago, Keith989 said:

Are you against heritage sides now? Or is it the NRL influence that you are worried about? 

I don't understand your now. I have always been against completely made up sides with no real domestic development like Scotland. There should also be more stringent entry requirements and clear evidence of progress, teams certainly shouldnt be getting away with no progression over 20 odd years like Ireland. I don't see how Italy or Scotland should ever be in a World Cup before France or Wales, based upon their domestic activity, with nations that have genuine domestic setups being negatively affected by not picking heritage players.

We have seen the negative impact of NRL influence, that's been clear over the last decade. However I am more bothered about the fact World Cups should be representative of the World, not conveniently picking a system and number of teams that ensures 6 and possibly 7 teams from the same region and at least one other in Lebanon whose players all reside in Australia. Throw in a Italy qualifying courtesy of heritage players and it really is a NRL World Cup. More mature sports don't do that.

[south yorkshire]

World cup ten team format i would like to one group ten teams each play five balanced matches top six make knock with play off format like super league. For group games rank every ten one to ten . Odd number rank teams play even number ranked teams. 

 

Ashes has to be England now as much as liked GB growing up but we have spent for too much time and money now to promote the England brand to throw it away now. 

Ireland i think could be our best bet to expand our game in Europe. They are a rugby mad nation and Gallic football.The Ariva Stadium could be a great venue for a magic weekend. There is alot of 2nd and 3rd generation Irish people living in England especially in North west.  

[sam4731]

Don't get me wrong, I am glad we will see more competitive matches at the next WC but when it comes down to it, sport is all about the memories, the moments that you couldn't script and how many more times will we see scenes like this

https://youtu.be/QIrXH62HPOQ

[Keith989]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

I don't understand your now. I have always been against completely made up sides with no real domestic development like Scotland. There should also be more stringent entry requirements and clear evidence of progress, teams certainly shouldnt be getting away with no progression over 20 odd years like Ireland. I don't see how Italy or Scotland should ever be in a World Cup before France or Wales, based upon their domestic activity, with nations that have genuine domestic setups being negatively affected by not picking heritage players.

We have seen the negative impact of NRL influence, that's been clear over the last decade. However I am more bothered about the fact World Cups should be representative of the World, not conveniently picking a system and number of teams that ensures 6 and possibly 7 teams from the same region and at least one other in Lebanon whose players all reside in Australia. Throw in a Italy qualifying courtesy of heritage players and it really is a NRL World Cup. More mature sports don't do that.

Fair comment. I agree with your comment regarding France and Wales not getting in ahead of other European heritage sides. I'd be happy for Ireland to not get to the group stages in a reduced world Cup as they don't deserve to be there. 

[Dunbar]

I don’t know if it has been mentioned already but for a 10 team competition, I would like to see two groups of 5.  Not least to do away with the Super Group format which is inherently unfair to the lowest ranked nation in the group.

Based on the 2021(2) comp and some assumptions of ranking, it would look like this.

Group 1

Australia

England

Fiji

Tonga

France

 

Group 2

Samoa

New Zealand

Papua New Guinea

Lebanon

Italy/Wales

 

Top two in each group into the semi finals (cross group) and then the final.

For me, the benefits are that you are quickly into games that matter.  Each group has at least three teams capable of being into the top 2, if not more.  Loads of competitive games.  Every team is guaranteed 4 games.

Then, no quarter finals so no blow outs.  Straight into two really competitive semi finals and the finals.  Intensity from start to finish.

[sam4731]

4 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I don’t know if it has been mentioned already but for a 10 team competition, I would like to see two groups of 5.  Not least to do away with the Super Group format which is inherently unfair to the lowest ranked nation in the group.

Based on the 2021(2) comp and some assumptions of ranking, it would look like this.

Group 1

Australia

England

Fiji

Tonga

France

 

Group 2

Samoa

New Zealand

Papua New Guinea

Lebanon

Italy/Wales

 

Top two in each group into the semi finals (cross group) and then the final.

For me, the benefits are that you are quickly into games that matter.  Each group has at least three teams capable of being into the top 2, if not more.  Loads of competitive games.  Every team is guaranteed 4 games.

Then, no quarter finals so no blow outs.  Straight into two really competitive semi finals and the finals.  Intensity from start to finish.

Not that I'm arguing with no QFs but if you've got the top 10 teams why would you get blowouts more than you would in the groups?

[Dunbar]

1 minute ago, sam4731 said:

Not that I'm arguing with no QFs but if you've got the top 10 teams why would you get blowouts more than you would in the groups?

Fair point.  Just that the first week of knockout games in the WC feels like a formallity for most of the games.  It would be nice to try and keep every game as meaningful as possible so 4 group games instead of 3... especially if it comes down to points difference etc.

[HawkMan]

1 minute ago, Dunbar said:

Fair point.  Just that the first week of knockout games in the WC feels like a formallity for most of the games.  It would be nice to try and keep every game as meaningful as possible so 4 group games instead of 3... especially if it comes down to points difference etc.

Also if top 4 of each group qualify for the next WC, then the final group games are likely to have something riding on them, trying to avoid 5th place and no automatic passage to 2030.

[gingerjon]

The 10 team 2008 World Cup had an average margin of victory of four converted tries (exactly 24 points if my maths is correct) including a 52-0 semi final (that game watched by a massive crowd of 15,855 incidentally).

And that, like all the ideas forming at the minute, was a tournament structure specifically designed to avoid blowouts.

[Spidey]

3 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

The 10 team 2008 World Cup had an average margin of victory of four converted tries (exactly 24 points if my maths is correct) including a 52-0 semi final (that game watched by a massive crowd of 15,855 incidentally).

And that, like all the ideas forming at the minute, was a tournament structure specifically designed to avoid blowouts.

Remind me of the score in Melbourne between Aus & Eng? You know one of the manufactured ties to get close games

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Spidey said:

Remind me of the score in Melbourne between Aus & Eng?

I shall do no such thing you pervert.

[Spidey]

Just now, gingerjon said:

I shall do no such thing you pervert.

I was there but must have drank myself stupid to avoid the reality

[gingerjon]

2 minutes ago, Spidey said:

I was there but must have drank myself stupid to avoid the reality

I hadn't remembered that it got a decent crowd - I think I was too busy swearing to notice - but, yeah, a prime example of how you can rig the set-up all you like to avoid uncompetitive games and blowouts but RL being what it is, they can happen anyway.

[Spidey]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I hadn't remembered that it got a decent crowd - I think I was too busy swearing to notice - but, yeah, a prime example of how you can rig the set-up all you like to avoid uncompetitive games and blowouts but RL being what it is, they can happen anyway.

Thinking back I was lucky (?!!) to get to that game as a dodgy hotdog bought at the International Rules game on the Friday wiped me out on the Saturday 

Socially great weekend, International Rules, Aussies in World Cup then Melbourne Cup (then missed my flight to Sydney )

[sam4731]

42 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Also if top 4 of each group qualify for the next WC, then the final group games are likely to have something riding on them, trying to avoid 5th place and no automatic passage to 2030.

I'm not thrilled by 10 teams with 8 automatically qualifying for 2026 but I've made my peace with it. If that's going to be the long term plan though we really are doomed.

[Gomersall]

Interesting to note that one of the 10 WC competing nations won’t be full members of the IRL.

Sorry, should have said currently aren’t full members.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Gomersall

[JohnM]

In my view, there is no denying that the game in the southern hemisphere is in excellent health. They are doing a far better job of things than we are. The NRL: way ahead of Superleague. Huge TV rights deal, great games, very good attendances, despite Saints WCC win, NRL teams are better in more or less every respect. Which English club could survive a season in the NRL without coming bottom? 

SuperLeague: 12 teams, at least 2 of whom are struggling to compete in any meaningful way. Possible shrinking TV deal, relatively poor crowds, limited media presence . True we now have IMG on board pursuing  a long term goal ( at last ..something sensible from the RFL at last).IMG are no fools, no hole in a corner outfit."  The IMG agency has agreed a deal to distribute the international media rights to the Saudi Professional League (SPL) following Cristiano Ronaldo’s high-profile transfer to Al-Nassr"

Looking at the make up of the International Rugby League board: It's dominated by southern hemisphere people , too. 

Consequently, I have confidence and faith in what they are doing (so it seems, does Wane), especially if IMG is our contribution to the mix. 

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by JohnM

[Griff]

8 hours ago, south yorkshire said:

World cup ten team format i would like to one group ten teams each play five balanced matches top six make knock with play off format like super league. For group games rank every ten one to ten . Odd number rank teams play even number ranked teams. 

 

Ashes has to be England now as much as liked GB growing up but we have spent for too much time and money now to promote the England brand to throw it away now. 

Ireland i think could be our best bet to expand our game in Europe. They are a rugby mad nation and Gallic football.The Ariva Stadium could be a great venue for a magic weekend. There is alot of 2nd and 3rd generation Irish people living in England especially in North west.  

Gallic football? Surely that's the French.