The Nations Championship is a biennial international men's rugby union competition, which is scheduled to take place in the mid-year and end-of-year international windows in even-numbered years. The inaugural edition began in 2026.
Format The competition consists of twelve teams, involving the current Six Nations (England, France, Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and SANZAAR (Argentina, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand) unions, in addition to two invited unions, Fiji and Japan. The competition is scheduled to be held in even-numbered years, as these are the years when there is no British & Irish Lions tour or Rugby World Cup, both of which are prestigious and of commercial importance to the sport.
The format of the competition includes a "European Conference", consisting of the Six Nations unions, and a "SANZAAR and Pacific Conference" comprising the four SANZAAR nations and the two invited unions (Japan and Fiji). Each team will play the six nations in the opposing conference across the July and November test windows, following which each team will play their equivalent-placed finisher in the opposing hemisphere, with a grand final between the top ranked finishers of each conference to be played at the end of the November window to decide the tournament champion.
World Rugby Nations Cup
A second competition, run by World Rugby, is taking place concurrently and consists of twelve further teams, with promotion and relegation between the divisions commencing from the start of the third edition in 2030.
Teams With no promotion and relegation in the first two editions, the following teams will contest the first three editions.
+ Nations ChampionshipTeamCompetitionRegionNorthern HemisphereSix Nations Championship EuropeSix Nations Championship EuropeSix Nations Championship EuropeSix Nations Championship EuropeSix Nations Championship EuropeSix Nations Championship EuropeSouthern HemisphereThe Rugby Championship South AmericaThe Rugby Championship OceaniaPacific Nations Cup OceaniaPacific Nations Cup AsiaThe Rugby Championship OceaniaThe Rugby Championship Africa
Results Year Finals host First place final Third place final Minor placements Champion Score Runner‑up Third Score Fourth 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 1 2026 — —
Qualification results Team202620282030 Years TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 TBD TBD TBD 3 Total 12 12 12 3
Criticism The creation of the Nations Championship has received criticism for 'ring-fencing' smaller nations outside elite competition and narrowing their opportunities to play against top nations. It has also been criticised for potentially devaluing the Rugby World Cup. World Rugby's Chief Executive Alan Gilpin has defended against this criticism by stating “the suggestions that this just makes the rich richer are misplaced. This creates a better landscape” whilst adding that there will be “50% guaranteed more crossover fixtures” in non-tournament years.
Broadcasting rights
Broadcasters include: TerritoryRights holderMovistar Plus+AsiaPremier SportsProSiebenSat.1 MediaCaribbeanESPNNova SportGo3 SportFBCTF1Rugby TVVirgin Media SkyWowowLatin AmericaESPNStarzplayZiggo SportSky SportPacific Islands DigicelSport TVDigi SportMovistar Plus+Sub-saharan AfricaSuperSportITV (English)S4C (Welsh)RugbyPass
See also WXV Global Series World Rugby Nations Cup Notes
References