United States, Pacific Islands to Stage Rugby League World Cup 2030 Tournaments

The International Rugby League has announced that the IRL Rugby League World Cup 2030 Men’s and Women’s tournaments will be staged in cities across the United States and the Pacific Islands.

IRL Chair Troy Grant said during the board’s annual general meeting in Sydney, Australia, that the RLWC30 Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair World Cups would all be staged concurrently, as is the case for this year’s World Cup in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Meanwhile, the Wheelchair event will take place at the same time as the Men’s and Women’s tournaments, but in France.

Staged by the Australian Rugby League Commission, the 2030 Men’s and Women’s tournaments will be held in the United States and the Pacific Islands for strategic reasons.

Grant said that the competitions would “maximize the interest of broadcasters, fans and government and corporate partners” in both markets. The ARLC already has experience in delivering games in the United States, too — the opening games of each National Rugby League (NRL) season have been held at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium since 2024.

Rugby League vs. Rugby Union

Rugby League is not the same as Rugby Union. The latter stages the Rugby World Cup, the men’s version of which will take place in Australia next year and in the United States in 2031.

Both Rugby League and Rugby Union matches are played for 80 minutes and passes must go backward, but they retain key differences, including number of players per side (13 in League and 15 in Union), point scoring (four points for a try in League, five in Union) and maximum pitch sizes ( 122.68 meters in League, 144 x 70 meters in Union).

The IRL Rugby League World Cup was created by French Rugby League official Paul Barriere (for whom the trophy is named), and the inaugural edition was held in Paris in 1954 with Great Britain defeating France. In comparison, the first Rugby Union World Cup took place in 1987, in Australia and New Zealand.

The IRL Women’s Rugby League World Cup competition was introduced in 2000, and the wheelchair competition debuted in 2008. Since then, each competition has been scheduled on a regular cycle, and the Men’s and Women’s competitions include qualification phases before the final tournaments.  
Looking ahead, the 2034 Rugby League World Cup will take place in Europe and will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the first rugby league game in France.

Magic Round Format

Grant said that the 2030 Men’s Rugby League World Cup will increase from 10 participating teams to 12, while the Women’s World Cup will also expand, from eight to 10 teams. The tournaments will be played across five weeks in five unconfirmed host cities in the United States and the Pacific Islands, making it likely that RLWC30 will use the same structure as the 2026 tournaments in Australia.

The Pacific Islands could refer to any nations or territories across the Pacific Ocean, including Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Palau, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, the Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia and American Samoa.

The exact format for the tournaments has not been confirmed, but the IRL has announced that it will adopt a “Magic Round” format, echoing the Super League’s Magic Weekend in England. In this case, there will be three pool (groups) rounds of games, with a complete round of fixtures at one venue, before the semifinals and finals are staged in different locations.

“The ARLC has agreed to be the organizers, with the IRL, of RLWC30,” said Grant. “They will be our tournament partners, and I would like to thank ARLC Executive Chairman Peter V’landys for his vision and support to grow international rugby league and ensure the Rugby League World Cup is the pinnacle of our game.

“RLWC26 has been a massive success by every possible metric — both on and off the field — and the ARLC has the capacity and ability to help build the World Cup into a truly global event.”
Adopting the Magic Round format would enable the IRL to set up various activations around each town and stadium where games will be taking place, as well as to promote teams to new audiences.

However, the existing format for the 2026 World Cup has come under scrutiny for the level of jeopardy in the group stage, as the number of participating teams was reduced from 16 teams in 2022 in England (the 2021 edition that was delayed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic) to 10 this year in Australia.

Under the current system, each team is involved in the group stage in the first three weeks of competition, before the best-performing teams progress straight to the semifinals and finals. Critics said that the format eliminated strong teams too early in the competition, while other heavyweights that did not qualify for the World Cup such as Scotland, Wales and Ireland pointed to one-sided scores as flaws with the structure (e.g. England beating France 82-0 and New Zealand defeating the Cook Islands 82-16).
France was originally set to host the 2026 IRL Rugby League World Cup before withdrawing due to financial reasons, and Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea took over instead.

Next Rugby Union World Cups

The 2031 Rugby Union World Cup in the United States will mark the first time the event has been held in North America, while the Women’s Rugby World Cup will return to the continent in 2033, for the first time since the 2006 edition in Canada.

Both NFL and MLS stadiums are being considered to host Rugby World Cup games in 2031 and 2033. Up to 27 cities and 33 venues are still in contention for the Men’s tournament, including: Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Birmingham, Alabama; Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Glendale, Arizona; Houston, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles Region, California; Miami, Florida; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans, Los Angeles; New York/New Jersey; Orlando, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Diego, California; San Francisco Bay Area, California; Seattle, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri; Vancouver (Canada); and Washington, D.C.

Phoenix, rather than Glendale, Arizona, is the other potential host city being considered for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2033.

Among those figures, between 12 and 14 cities are due to stage games at the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2031.

An announcement about the final host cities for the 2031 tournament is expected in the latter half of 2027.

Last month, Megan Rose, a former professional tennis player, was named managing director of the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2031, and she will lead delivery planning for the sport’s most ambitious Rugby World Cup to date.

The tournament will adopt the same 24-team format that is also being used for the 2027 edition in Australia next year. In total, there will be six pools consisting of four teams and a Round-of-16 before the quarterfinals, with 52 matches being played over a six-week period.