Rugby League World Cup qualification
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rugby League World Cup qualification is the process a national team goes through to qualify for the Rugby League World Cup Finals.
Upcoming tournament 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup qualification | |
Sport | Rugby league |
---|---|
Instituted | 2000; 24 years ago (2000) |
Region | International (IRL) |
Qualifying rounds were first introduced for the 2000 World Cup to reflect the recent expansion of the tournament.
From 2017 hosts and teams reaching the knockout rounds of the previous tournament automatically qualify for the next. The remaining spots are achieved through regional qualification tournaments, split between the four International Rugby League confederation Asia-Pacific, Americas, Europe, and Middle East-Africa.
Prior to this qualification tournament occurred in more random groups and major rugby league nations were still invited without need for qualification.
Because of a changing number of teams making the finals and entering the qualifiers, and the unpredictability of the geographic spread of teams automatically qualifying, the format of the qualification tournament has changed with each edition of the tournament.