2025 Rugby League World Cup qualification

The 2025 Rugby League World Cup qualification is the qualifying process which will decide the seven teams that would join the eight quarter-finalists from the 2021 World Cup and hosts France, who received an automatic spot, at the 2025 Rugby League World Cup. The process commenced in 2021, with the 2021 Rugby League European Championship D, which acted as the preliminary round for European qualification.

2025 World Cup qualification
Tournament details
DatesNovember 2021 – 2024
Teams27 (from 4 confederations)

Background

The organisers announced in March 2022 that all eight countries that reach the quarter-finals of the 2021 competition will qualify for 2025 and another 27 countries will enter the qualifying tournament, with a total of 16 nations competing in the subsequent tournament. European countries will take between six and eight of the 16 places, Asia and Pacific region countries between five and seven, North and South American countries two places and Middle East and African countries one or two places.[1] The Cook Islands were the only eligible member from the Asia-Pacific region who missed out on the 2021 Quarter Finals, and will have to qualify through the repechage. [2]

Qualified teams

Team Method of
qualification		 Date of
qualification		 Total
times
qualified		 Last
time
qualified		 Current
consecutive
appearances		 Previous best
performance
 France Hosts 11 January 2022 17 2021 17 Runners-up (1954, 1968)
 New Zealand 2021 Group C winners 28 October 2022 17 2021 17 Winners (2008)
 England 2021 Group A winners 29 October 2022 8[lower-alpha 1] 2021 8 Runners-up (1975, 1995, 2017)
 Fiji 2021 Group B runners-up 29 October 2022 7 2021 7 Semi-finals (2008, 2013, 2017)
 Australia 2021 Group B winners 29 October 2022 17 2021 17 Winners (12 times)
 Lebanon 2021 Group C runners-up 30 October 2022 4 2021 3 Quarter-finals (2017, 2021)
 Tonga 2021 Group D winners 30 October 2022 7 2021 7 Semi-finals (2017)
 Samoa 2021 Group A runners-up 30 October 2022 7 2021 7 Runners-up (2021)
 Papua New Guinea 2021 Group D runners-up 31 October 2022 9 2021 9 Quarter-finals (2000, 2017, 2021)
TBA 2023 Americas Rugby League Championship winners 2023
TBA 2023 Americas Rugby League Championship runners-up 2023
TBA 2023 European Championship highest ranked teams in each group outside of France and England. 2023
TBA 2023
TBA Playoff winner between 2023 European Championship B highest ranked team in each group and 2023 European Championship second highest ranked teams in each group outside of France and England. 2024
TBA 2024
TBA Winner of:  Cook Islands vs winner of 2023 MEA Rugby League Cup[lower-alpha 2] 2024
Notes
  1. Competed as part of Great Britain in nine previous tournaments, finishing as champions on three occasions (1954, 1960, 1972). The squads largely consisted of English players, but also featured Welsh players in every tournament. Scotland (1954, 1968, 1977, 1989–92) and Ireland (1957) were represented by native-born players in some tournaments.
  2. Or runners up if winners are Lebanon who have already qualified

Americas

First round
Main article: 2022 South American Rugby League Championship

The 2022 South American Championship will act as a first round of the Americas qualification tournament. Despite participating in the tournament, Colombia is an observer nation, if they are to win the championship, the runner-up will go to the 2023 tournament.

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1  Brazil 2 2 0 0 76 18 +58 4 Qualification for 2023 Americas Rugby League Championship
2  Chile 2 1 0 1 52 34 +18 2
3  Colombia 2 0 0 2 14 90 −76 0
Source: IRL
25 November 2022
15:30 COT (UTC-05:00)
Chile  18–20  Brazil
Tries: Altamirano (2)
Vasquez
Goals: Horvat (3)
 report
 Tries: Melo (2)
Caetano
Paixāo
Goals: Domingues
Araujo
Estadio JB Londoño, Jericó[3]
Referee: Andrew Pilkington (Spain)
Touch judges: Juan Blumetti (Argentina), Hugo Pulido (Colombia)
26 November 2022
15:30 COT (UTC-05:00)
Colombia  14–34  Chile
Tries: Garcia (2)
Zuluaga
Goals: Linares (1)
 report
 Tries: Vasquez (2)
Yao
Horvat
Altamirano
Sales
Goals: Horvat (5)
Estadio JB Londoño, Jericó[3]
Referee: Andrew Pilkington (Spain)
Touch judges: Juan Blumetti (Argentina), Emiliano Rodriguez (Argentina)
27 November 2022
15:30 COT (UTC-05:00)
Brazil  56–0  Colombia
Tries: Caetano (3)
Ozzioli (3)
Araujo
Paixao
Grundy
Dos Santos
Goals: Araujo (8)
 report
Estadio JB Londoño, Jericó[3]
Referee: Andrew Pilkington (Spain)
Touch judges: Hugo Pulido (Colombia), Emiliano Rodriguez (Argentina)

Second round

The winners of the 2022 South American Championship Brazil will enter the 2023 Americas Championship along with the North American and Caribbean sides, United States, Jamaica and Canada, where the top two sides will qualify for the World Cup.[4]

Europe

First round
Main article: 2021 Rugby League European Championship D

The first round of European World Cup qualifiers began in 2021 under the European Championship D. The tournament saw the Netherlands progress to the second round of qualification.[1]

Semi-finals Final
    
 Malta 16
 Czech Republic 40
 Czech Republic 10
 Netherlands 36
 Netherlands 40
 Turkey 18
First semi-final
14 October 2021
13:00 CET (UTC+1:00)
Malta  16–40  Czech Republic
Tries: Scholey, Barlogio, Galea
Goals: Galea (2/3)
 Report (IRL)
Report (ERL)
 Tries: Bělohlávek, Preininger, Řičica (2), Hudrlík (2), Horák
Goals: Hudrlík (6/7)
Huseyin Akar Tesisler Stadium, Bodrum
Attendance: 500[5]
Referee: Aris Dardamanis (Greece)
Second semi-final
14 October 2021
15:30 CET (UTC+1:00)
Netherlands  40–18  Turkey
Tries: Shoenmake (2), Ngirubiu, Farrell (2), Renac
Goals: Idzera (8/8)
 Report (IRL)
Report (ERL)
 Tries: Demir, Ertürk, Çeliktutan
Goals: Bayram (3/3)
Huseyin Akar Tesisler Stadium, Bodrum
Attendance: 500[6]
Referee: Eamonn Whelan (Ireland)
Championship final[lower-alpha 1]
17 October 2021
15:30 CET (UTC+1:00)
Czech Republic  10–36  Netherlands
Tries: Veselý, Kasík
Goals: Veselý (1/2)
 Report (IRL)
Report (ERL)
 Tries: Schoenmaker (3), Lavia, Razoux Schultz, De Ruiter
Goals: Idzera (6/9)
Huseyin Akar Tesisler Stadium, Bodrum
Referee: Eamonn Whelan (Ireland)
  1. Netherlands promoted to the 2023 European Championship B as well as progressing to the qualifying tournament for the 2025 Rugby League World Cup.[7]

Second round
Main article: 2023 Rugby League European Championship B

The 2023 European Championship B will consist of the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway and Ukraine: Russia was originally part of the competition, but as they remained suspended due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, Czech Republic, the runners-up from 2021 Euro D, replaced them.

The winners of each Group will go to the final round of qualification in 2024.[1]

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1  Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to Europe Repêchage
2  Norway 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Ukraine 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:
21 October 2023
Ukraine  v  Norway
Source
28 October 2023
Greece  v  Ukraine
Source
4 November 2023
Norway  v  Greece
Source

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1  Czech Republic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to Europe Repêchage
2  Germany 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:
21 October 2023
Germany  v  Czech Republic
Source
4 November 2023
Netherlands  v  Germany
Source

Second round (cont.)
Main article: 2023 Rugby League European Championship

A two-grouped European Championship is expected to be held, consisting of France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Wales and England. France and England have already qualified. An unknown number of teams will qualify directly from this competition, while further teams will join the top two teams from Championship B in the fourth round.[1]

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1  England 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [lower-alpha 2]
2  Ireland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for 2025 World Cup
3  Scotland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to 2024 Europe Repêchage
4  Serbia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:
Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1  France 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [lower-alpha 2]
2  Italy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for 2025 World Cup
3  Spain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to 2024 Europe Repêchage
4  Wales 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:

Third round

The winners of each group of the 2023 European Championship B will progress to the Europe Repêchage, along teams finishing second of each group of the 2023 European Championship A outside of France and England.[9] These matches will take place in 2024.[1]

Middle East-Africa

First round
Main article: 2022 MEA Rugby League Championship

The Middle East-Africa qualification process started with the 2022 MEA Rugby League Championship.

Semi-finals Final
    
 Ghana 26
 Kenya 6
 Ghana 4
 Nigeria 30
 Nigeria 36
 Cameroon 2
27 September 2022
13:00 GMT (UTC±00:00)
Ghana  26–6  Kenya
Tries: Bless, Acheampang (2), Da Gama Odun(2)
Goals: Da Gama Odun (3)
 Report (ERL)
 Tries: Matua
Goals: Hamed
University of Ghana Sports Grounds, Accra[10]
Referee: Aaron Moore (England)
27 September 2022
15:30 GMT (UTC±00:00)
Nigeria  36–2  Cameroon
Tries: Gabriel, Godwin, Lawal, Ayodeji (3), Okoro
Goals: Gabriel (3)
 Report (ERL)
 Goals: Nkouak
University of Ghana Sports Grounds, Accra[10]
Referee: Aaron Moore (England)
1 October 2022
14:30 GMT (UTC±00:00)
Ghana  4–30  Nigeria
Tries: Bless Mensah (44')
Goals: John (3)
 Report (ERL)
 Tries: Egodo (15'), Ayodeji (20'), Okoro (25'), Omale (39'), Ayodeji (67'), Lawal (76')
University of Ghana Sports Grounds, Accra[10]
Referee: Aaron Moore (England)

Second round

Nigeria and Ghana progressed to the 2023 MEA Cup where they will meet South Africa. As Lebanon qualified through making the 2021 World Cup quarter-finals, the highest-placed winner outside of Lebanon will play in an intercontinental play off.[11][12]

Inter-regional Repêchage

The inter-regional Repêchage will feature the Cook Islands and the highest ranked side outside of Lebanon from the 2023 MEA Rugby League Cup in 2024.[13]

Notes
  1. Despite the Ukraine vs Norway match being a home game for Ukraine, it will be played in Norway due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.[8]
  2. As England and France have already qualified for the 2025 Rugby League World Cup they are illegible to take tournament qualification sports.

References
  1. "Road to France 2025: Rugby League World Cup Qualifying Process Announced". Rugby League International Federation. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  2. "INTRL - Regional berths and qualifying tournaments for France 2025 confirmed". Rugby League International Federation. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  3. "South American Championship to be held in the Colombian Andes". Rugby League International Federation. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  4. "South American Championship to be held in the Colombian Andes". Rugby League International Federation. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  5. https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/dates/14-october-2021/czech-republic-vs-malta.html
  6. https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/dates/14-october-2021/turkey-vs-netherlands.html
  7. "Czech Republic 10 v 36 Netherlands". europeanrugbyleague.com. European Rugby League. 17 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  8. "2023 Euro B Men's Draw & Fixtures Announced".
  9. "World Cup 2025 qualifying set to continue". 25 November 2022.
  10. "Draw made for 2022 Middle East Africa Rugby League Championship".
  11. "DRAW MADE FOR 2022 MIDDLE EAST AFRICA CHAMPIONSHIP". Rugby League International Federation. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  12. "Nigeria retain Middle East Africa Championship". Rugby League International Federation. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  13. "INTRL - Regional berths and qualifying tournaments for France 2025 confirmed". Rugby League International Federation. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
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