2025 Rugby League World Cup


The 2025 Rugby League World Cup will be the seventeenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup. The tournament is expected to include 16 men's teams as well as a women's competition, the same as is planned for 2021.

Host selection

After the U.S. lost the 2021 Rugby League World Cup bid to England, the Rugby League International Federation recommended that the United States and Canada should host the 2025 event after an impressive bid by Moore Sports International. The RLIF Congress reviewed that recommendation at a meeting in November 2016.
On 20 November, it was announced that the North America bid had won the rights to host the 2025 World Cup. This would have been the first time the tournament was held outside of Europe and Oceania.
On December 4, 2018, plans for the World Cup to be held in North America were scrapped due to financial concerns and that the location of the 2025 Rugby League World Cup would be determined by a new bidding process in 2019.

Cities and venues

Paul O'Keefe, president of the Canada Rugby League Association, stated that he expected two or three Canadian cities would host matches – probably Toronto and Vancouver, and possibly a city in Alberta. The U.S. bidders Moore Sports International stated that they planned to use stadiums that are home to National Football League and Major League Soccer. However, both the NFL and MLS play matches during October–November, when the Rugby League World Cup is usually held.