It has been announced that Australia will host the bulk of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup, with Papua New Guinea also hosting games.
The competition will feature ten teams, as well as having women’s and wheelchair Rugby League World Cup competitions running alongside the mens competition.
I personally felt that the 2026 World Cup should be held in New Zealand, but they look like they may miss out completely on any games this time around.
The World Cup needed this reset. The 2022 tournament was a bit of a disaster, with very few games that were even competitive, and relying so heavily on being underwritten by the UK government financially. It resulted in the 2025 World Cup, which was supposed to be honest by France, being cancelled.
Now, we are heading back and fishing where the fish are. It is hard to argue with that, although I do feel sorry for New Zealand and feel they would have hosted a fine tournament.
The key for the Rugby League World Cup is for it to be financially sustainable, and having more than two or three competitive games.
The World Cup will go back to having 10 years, which will make it far more competitive. This tournament needs to be about finding out who the champions will be, not just having a giant amount of participation and then we have two or three meaningful games at the end.
Venue choices haven’t been announced yet but hopefully they are reasonable and don’t over stretch. Having stadiums used that are two large, or that require fans to literally fly back and forth across the entire tournament needs to be avoided.
I love international Rugby League, so I hope this all works out.
