On tour
Every date the ticketer lists, worldwide · venue time
TicketsSports · AURLWC26 - Men's: England v PNG | Women's: England v SamoaWIN Stadium · Wollongong
TicketsSports · AURLWC26 - Men's: Australia v Cook IslandsQueensland Country Bank Stadium · Townsville
TicketsSports · AUWheelchair Rugby League World Cup 2026 - Round 3 Pools A & BWIN Entertainment Centre · Wollongong
TicketsSports · AURLWC26 - Men's & Women's SEMI FINAL 1McDonald Jones Stadium · Newcastle
TicketsSports · AUWheelchair Rugby League World Cup 2026 - FinalWIN Entertainment Centre · Wollongong
TicketsSports · AUWheelchair Rugby League World Cup 2026 - FinalWIN Entertainment Centre · WollongongThe profile · researched 25 September 2026
A World Cup rebuilt in the southern hemisphere: rugby league's 17th edition opens in Sydney
Three years after France walked away from hosting, the Rugby League World Cup reconvenes across Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea from 15 October 2026 — narrower in the men's draw, wider in everything else, with four tournaments running at once.
Born in France, then rescued from France
The competition is the oldest of its kind. The first Rugby League World Cup was played in France in 1954, before any World Cup was staged in the union code, and it came out of a French push that had been running since the 1930s. Australia have dominated it ever since, with 12 titles; Great Britain have three, and New Zealand one, won in 2008. The most recent edition — the 2021 tournament, held in England in late 2022 after a Covid postponement — ended with Australia beating Samoa 30-10, and was the most watched staging in the competition's history.
France were awarded the next tournament in 2022 and were due to host in 2025, then withdrew in May 2023 after a newly elected government balked at the cost. The International Rugby League cancelled the 2025 edition and, on 3 August 2023, confirmed a southern-hemisphere replacement for 2026, led by Australia with matches also in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. In the process a 16-team men's draw became a 10-team one, which remains the most contested decision of the cycle: lower-ranked nations and their associations argued publicly that shrinking the field narrows the route in and slows the international game's growth.
Ten men's teams, and three other World Cups alongside
The tournament runs from 15 October to 15 November 2026: 53 matches, 26 teams drawn from 14 nations, 31 days, nine cities. The men's competition takes 10 teams and 18 matches. Group A holds four sides — Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands — while Group B (England, Samoa, Lebanon) and Group C (Tonga, Papua New Guinea, France) hold three each. The top two from Group A reach the semi-finals, joined by the leading two from the combined B and C standings. Eight teams qualified automatically as quarter-finalists from the 2021 tournament; France came through the northern-hemisphere playoff and the Cook Islands the southern.
The women's tournament takes eight teams in two groups of four — Australia, England, Samoa and Wales in one; New Zealand, France, Papua New Guinea and Fiji in the other — with the top two from each advancing. The wheelchair tournament, also eight teams, is played entirely at the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong, with its final on 13 November. On 1 September 2026 organisers confirmed a fourth strand: a second physical disability rugby league World Cup, three teams, run concurrently with the rest.
England arrive under a coach appointed in April
England's preparation was reshaped by the 2025 Ashes. Australia won the series 3-0 — 26-6 at Wembley on 25 October in front of 60,812, a record crowd for an Ashes match in Britain; 14-4 at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium on 1 November before a sold-out 52,106, the first rugby league game at the ground; and 30-8 at a full Headingley on 8 November, where 19,500 took the series aggregate to 132,418.
Shaun Wane stepped down as England head coach on 15 January 2026. The Rugby Football League took until 23 April to name his successor, choosing Brian McDermott ahead of a field that included Sam Burgess, Steve McNamara, Brad Arthur and Paul Rowley, with the decision made by a panel of Kevin Sinfield, Sara Symington, Abi Ekoku and Nigel Wood. McDermott coached Leeds from 2011 to 2018, reaching four Grand Finals and winning the treble in 2015, took Toronto Wolfpack up to Super League in 2019, and was most recently an assistant at the Gold Coast Titans. On appointment he said his focus was "creating an environment where players can perform with confidence".
Nine cities, and the first sold-out stadium
Matches are spread across Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Townsville and Perth in Australia, plus Christchurch and Port Moresby. The Australian venues include Lang Park in Brisbane, Allianz Stadium and Western Sydney Stadium, Newcastle International Sports Centre, the Wollongong Showground, Robina Stadium, North Queensland Stadium and Perth Rectangular Stadium. Papua New Guinea's matches are at the PNG Football Stadium in Port Moresby; New Zealand's are at the newly opened One New Zealand Stadium, the roofed ground in central Christchurch also known as Te Kaha.
Tickets reached the general public in February 2026, priced from A$19 for adults and A$49 for a family at group-stage matches. By 2 September more than 140,000 had been sold and Christchurch had become the first venue to sell out, for its 25 October double-header of New Zealand against the Cook Islands and the Kiwi Ferns against France; a further 1,000 seats were released the Wednesday before capacity was reached. The same stadium had drawn 25,325 to a Warriors fixture in June that sold out in five days — a run of numbers now being cited in the argument for a second New Zealand NRL team. International Rugby League chair Troy Grant framed it in those terms: "It's obviously a matter for the ARLC, but any investment internationally is a boom for the international game." Broadcast rights sit with the Seven Network in Australia, in a deal reported at A$12m, Sky Sport in New Zealand and Premier Sports for the UK, Ireland, Asia and Canada.
Where the squads stand in late September
Nations began naming wider squads of 40 from the start of September, to be cut to 24 before the opening match. As of 23 September, four had published extended lists: New Zealand with 38 players, England with 37, France with 43 and Fiji with 41. Australia, Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands and Lebanon had yet to name theirs, with the Kangaroos waiting for the NRL finals series to finish.
The early lists give a sense of the shape of the thing. New Zealand's extended squad includes Jahrome Hughes, Kalyn Ponga and Brandon Smith. England's carries Jack Welsby and Victor Radley. Fiji's names Viliame Kikau and Maika Sivo. The cuts, in every camp, land in the fortnight before 15 October.
The show, now
A match day is built around 80 minutes of rugby league and, more often than not, two matches for one ticket. The tournament opens on Thursday 15 October at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia against New Zealand, with gates at 6.30pm and kick-off at 8.05pm; entry includes public transport to the ground. Double-headers pairing a men's and a women's fixture run through the group stage — Christchurch's sold-out 25 October bill of New Zealand v Cook Islands and Kiwi Ferns v France, and a men's and women's pairing at WIN Stadium on 30 October — and carry into the knockout rounds, with double-header semi-finals at Newcastle and Sydney on 7 and 8 November. The wheelchair tournament is the exception in format: all eight teams play the whole competition inside one arena, the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong, finishing with the final on 13 November. Group-stage seats start at A$19 for adults and A$49 for a family, and more than 140,000 tickets had gone by early September, with Christchurch the first venue to fill. Both the men's and women's finals are at Lang Park in Brisbane on 15 November.
Researched from en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · intrl.sport · rlwc2026.com · allianzstadium.com.au · rlwc2026.com · skysports.com
Pictures
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons, credited
paddynapper · CC BY-SA 2.0
Fleets · CC BY-SA 4.0
Fleets · CC BY-SA 4.0
Gerard Barrau · CC BY-SA 3.0
Kevin Blackburn · CC BY 2.0
Gerard Barrau · CC BY-SA 3.0
