The 2026 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2026) is a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league and is a replacement tournament for the 2025 Rugby League World Cup.
Like 2021, the 2026 World Cup will see the men's, women's, and wheelchair world cups simultaneously. However unlike 2021, the men's tournament will feature ten teams only, and the planned expansion of the women's and wheelchair tournament will be delayed keeping team numbers at eight in each.
On 1 September 2026, the organisers announced that the second physical disability rugby league (PDRL) world cup would be held concurrently with the other three tournaments.
Host selection
Originally due to be staged in the US and Canada in 2025, the offer was withdrawn due to financial concerns. In 2022, hosting was awarded to France. In May 2023, the French organisers pulled out of hosting the games.
On 3 August 2023, the 2025 tournaments were cancelled by the sport's governing body with the announcement that a new reduced-size tournament would take place in the southern hemisphere in 2026. On 24 July 2024, the IRL announced that Australia would host the 2026 tournament, with a number of games played in Papua New Guinea.
The announcement of the draw and pools on 23 November 2025 included the new stadium, Te Kaha, in Christchurch in the list of venues, adding New Zealand as a host country. Te Kaha is known as One New Zealand Stadium for sponsorship reasons and was opened in March 2026.
The Wollongong Entertainment Centre was selected as the venue for all matches in the Wheelchair World Cup.
All the PDRL group matches will be played at the AIIMS Stadium in Cabramatta, with the final played at the Allianz Stadium in a triple header with the men's and women's semi-finals.
Nations 14 nations have qualified for the four tournaments:
(M, W, WC, PD) (M) (M, W, WC, PD) (M, W) (M, W, WC) (WC) (M) (M, W, WC, PD) (M, W) (M, W) (WC) (M) (WC) (W, WC)
Note: M=Men's tournament, W=Women's tournament, WC=Wheelchair tournament, PD=Physical Disability tournament
Venues Twelve venues have been selected.
Stadium Location Games Game Days Capacity # Original Name Sponsored Name City Region Women Men Total Papua New Guinea (1) PNG Football Stadium Santos National Football Stadium Port Moresby NCD 2 2 4 2 14,800 New Zealand (1) Te Kaha One New Zealand Stadium Christchurch Canterbury 1 1 2 1 25,000 Australia (9) Perth Rectangular Stadium HBF Park Perth WA 2 2 4 2 20,500 Lang Park Suncorp Stadium Brisbane QLD 1 2 3 2 52,500 North Queensland Stadium Queensland Country Bank Stadium Townsville QLD 0 1 1 1 25,455 Robina Stadium Cbus Super Stadium Robina, Gold Coast QLD 2 1 3 1 27,690 Newcastle International Sports Centre McDonald Jones Stadium Newcastle NSW 2 2 4 2 33,000 Sydney Football Stadium Allianz Stadium Sydney NSW 1 2 4 2 42,500 Western Sydney Stadium CommBank Stadium Parramatta, Sydney NSW 3 4 7 3 30,000 Wollongong Showground WIN Stadium Wollongong NSW 1 1 2 1 23,750 Wollongong Entertainment Centre WIN Entertainment Centre Wollongong NSW Wheelchair 20 8 6,000 Cabramatta Stadium AIIMS Stadium Cabramatta NSW PDRL 3 3 ~2,000
Competitions As with 2021, the men's, women's, wheelchair and physical disability rugby league world cups will be held simultaneously in equal prominence.
Men
Women
Wheelchair
PDRL
Scheduling Collectively, matches have been scheduled at eleven venues in nine cities. The Sydney Football Stadium in Moore Park and Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta are the two venues to be used in Greater Sydney.
The other city to supply two venues is Wollongong, where the adjacent venues Wollongong Entertainment Centre and Wollongong Showground are to be used. The former is to be used for all wheelchair matches. Immediately following on from the opening pair of wheelchair matches, the latter will host a women's match and then a men's match.
The majority of matches have been scheduled in multiple match game day formats. There are just three stand-alone matches. All three involve the Australian men's team. + Schedule of matches Date Early Afternoon Mid Afternoon Late Afternoon Evening/Night Venue 15 Oct M Sydney 16 Oct M W Parramatta 17 Oct W M Port Moresby 17 Oct W M Perth 18 Oct W M Newcastle 23 Oct W M Parramatta 24 Oct W M Port Moresby 24 Oct M W Perth 25 Oct W M Christchurch 25 Oct M Brisbane 30 Oct Australia PD England Cabramatta 30 Oct WC WC W M Wollongong 31 Oct W M W Gold Coast 31 Oct WC WC Wollongong 31 Oct M Townsville 1 Nov W M M Parramatta 2 Nov England PD New Zealand Cabramatta 3 Nov WC WC WC WC Wollongong 5 Nov Australia PD New Zealand Cabramatta 6 Nov WC WC WC WC Wollongong 7 Nov Pool B 1st W 2nd Pool A Pool B+C 1st M 2nd Pool A Newcastle 8 Nov the PD Final Pool A 1st W 2nd Pool B Pool A 1st M 2nd Pool B+C Sydney 9 Nov Pool B 3rd WC 4th Pool A Pool A 3rd WC 4th Pool B Wollongong 10 Nov Pool B 1st WC 2nd Pool A Pool A 1st WC 2nd Pool B Wollongong 12 Nov 7th place WC Play-off 5th place WC Play-off Wollongong 13 Nov 3rd place WC Play-off the WC Final Wollongong 15 Nov the W Final the M Final Brisbane
Broadcasting In Australia, Seven Network won rights to the tournament in a $12 million deal. The deal was confirmed on 22 October 2025.
In the UK, the BBC refused to bid for the tournament. Following the announcement of Premier Sports as the broadcaster not only for viewers in UK and Ireland but also for viewers in pan-Asia and Canada, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy urged the IRL to strike a deal with a free-to-air broadcaster.
+RegionBroadcasterFree-to-Air/SubscriptionDetailsSeven NetworkAll men's, women's, and wheelchair matches live.Sky SportAll men's, women's, and wheelchair matches live. Premier Sports Americas All men's matches live and select women's and wheelchair matches live.Premier Sports AsiaAll men's matches live and select women's and wheelchair matches live. andPremier SportsAll men's matches live, all England women's and wheelchair matches live, and women's and wheelchair semi-finals and final live.
Legacy With the announcement of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup, International Rugby League (IRL) also announced a long awaited international rugby league calendar dating from 2023 to 2030, citing the cancellations of the 2025 tournament as "the perfect opportunity" to refresh the international game. The calendar confirmed the already arranged 2023 Tonga tour of England, and also announced a 2025 Kangaroo tour of England and France (which will include the revival of The Ashes), 2027 Kiwi tour of England, 2028 Kangaroo tour of England, and a 2029 tour between England and an unconfirmed Pacific Nation. The announcement also stated a 2024 Samoa tour of England would be likely (as this was already being discussed by the two nations). This was confirmed in June 2024.
The calendar also announced that the Women's Rugby League World Cup would be a stand alone event starting in 2028. In addition, there would be a renewed focus on regional tournaments to aid in developing lesser rugby league nations. A later announcement confirmed the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup would also be a stand alone event starting in 2029. In 2025, The Guardian credited the success of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup as being key to this change. However following a tendering process, IRL announced that the decision to have three separate tournaments in different years was reversed and the next World Cups would be held concurrently in 2030.
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