The Rugby League World Cup qualification is the process a national team goes through to qualify for the Rugby League World Cup Finals.

Qualifying rounds were first introduced for the 2000 World Cup to reflect the recent expansion of the tournament.

From 2017 hosts and teams reaching the knockout rounds of the previous tournament automatically qualify for the next. The remaining spots are achieved through regional qualification tournaments, split between the four International Rugby League confederation Asia-Pacific, Americas, Europe, and Middle East-Africa.

Prior to this qualification tournament occurred in more random groups and major rugby league nations were still invited without need for qualification.

Because of a changing number of teams making the finals and entering the qualifiers, and the unpredictability of the geographic spread of teams automatically qualifying, the format of the qualification tournament has changed with each edition of the tournament.

Pre-qualification era

1954–1977 In the first eight edition of the tournament only four teams were invited to participate. These were:

NB: In 1975 Great Britain split into England and Wales for a one-off tournament due to Wales wanting to showcase their influx of Welsh talent they had at the time. No Scottish or Irish player made the original Great Britain squad for that year.

1985–1992 For the next two editions of the tournament, a fifth nation was invited to participate:

1995 Following the expansion of the tournament to a group and knockout format, the number of participating teams increase as well. The initial tournament of the modern era would be the final invited only tournament with four new teams making debut:

In addition, the two established British home nation sides began their regular participation in the tournament as separate entities:

2000

For 2000, the tournament was expanded to 16 teams. 15 gained automatic qualification or were invited:

(hosts)

(hosts) (hosts)

(hosts)

(hosts)

The 16th place was fought for by six teams:

TeamPldWDLPFPA+/−Pts 2 2 0 0 140 16 124 4 2 1 0 1 50 36 14 2 2 0 0 2 0 138 -138 0TeamPldWDLPFPA+/−Pts 2 2 0 0 122 0 122 4 2 1 0 1 14 54 -40 2 2 0 0 2 0 82 -82 0

2008

Hosts and Invitees (hosts)

Europe Round 1 Team Qualification 330010820+886 Advance to Second Round 320110250+524Ejected 310268123–552Failed to qualify 300342127–850

Round 2 Group A Team Qualification 21013732+52Qualified for World Cup 21013237–52Advance to Intercontinental Playoff

Group B Team Qualification 422014264786Qualified for World Cup 422010442626Advance to Interncontinental Playoff 400438178−1400Failed to qualify

Pacific Team Qualification 320110254484Qualified for World Cup 32019862364 32018652344Advances to Intercontinental Playoffs 300324142−1180Failed to qualify for World Cup

Other

United States advance to Intercontinental playoffs

Intercontinental Semi-finals

Final

Samoa qualify for World Cup

2013

Hosts and Invitees

(hosts)

(hosts)

Atlantic TeamPldWDLTFPFPA+/−BPPts22000808+7204210102446−2202200201060−5000

Europe TeamPldWDLPFPA+/−Pts321016331+1325321014723+1245310242152−1102300338184−1460

2017

Automatic (as well as hosts)

(as well as hosts) (as hosts)

Americas

Asia-Pacific

Europe

Euro C

Green: Advance to A

Euro B

Green: Advance to A

Euro A Group A

Group B

Playoff

Middle East-Africa 25 October 201512–40Bosman Stadium, Brakpan31 October 201516–50Bosman Stadium, Brakpan

2021

Automatic

(as well as hosts)

Americas

qualify advance to Intercontinental playoffs

Europe Round 1

Playoffs Group A

Group B

Intercontinental

qualify

2026

Automatic Source: (as well as hosts)

(as well as hosts)

Europe

advance to Intercontinental playoffs

Intercontinental 36–0 58–6 France and Cook Islands qualify for the World Cup.

Results As of the 2021 tournament, 21 different teams have competed in at least one world cup either via invitation or qualification. Australia, France, and New Zealand, are the only teams to have completed in every tournament. England has also participate in every tournament but competed as Great Britain prior to 1995 with the exception of 1975. Team 1954 1957 1960 1968 1970 1972 1975 1977 1985–1988 1989–1992 1995 2000 2008 2013 2017 2021 2026 Years INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV AQ AQ AQ 17 - - - - - - - - - - - INV DNQ INV DNQ Q Q 4 - - - - - - INV - - - INV INV INV INV AQ AQ AQ 8a - - - - - - - - - - INV INV INV INV AQ AQ AQ 7 INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV AQ Q Q 17 INV INV INV INV INV INV - INV INV INV - - - - - - - 9a - - - - - - - - - - - - - - DNQ Q - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - INV Q INV Q Q - 5a - - - - - - - - - - - DNQ - Q Q Q - 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - DNQ DNQ Q DNQ 1 - - - - - - - - - - - Q DNQ DNQ Q AQ AQ 4 - - - - - - - - - - - INV - - - - - 1INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV INV AQ AQ AQ 17 - - - - - - - - INV INV INV INV INV INV AQ AQ AQ 9 - - - - - - - - - - - INV DNQ DNQ DNQ SUP SUP 1b - - - - - - - - - - INV INV Q INV AQ AQ AQ 7 - - - - - - - - - - - INV Q INV AQ Q - 5a - - - - - - - - - - INV INV DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 2 - - - - - - - - - - INV INV Q INV Q AQ AQ 7 - - - - - - - - - - - DNQ DNQ Q Q DNQ - 2c - - - - - - INV - - - INV INV DNQ INV Q Q DNQ 6aTotal 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 5 5 10 16 10 14 14 16 10

Legend = Hosts INV = Invited AQ = Automatically Qualified Q = Qualified DNQ = Did not qualify - = Did not participate or was not invited SUP = Suspended

a Competed as Great Britain in nine previous tournaments. The squads largely consisted of English players, but also featured Welsh players in every tournament. Scotland (1954, 1968, 1977, 1989–92), and Ireland (1957) were represented by native-born players in some tournaments. b After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been banned from all international tournaments. c The United States was invited to the 1954 World Cup, but later canceled their invitation.

Participation The following table shows the number of years each team has completed in both the qualifiers and final tournament. Bold inducates teams automatically qualified or were invited to participate.

Updated for 2026 World Cup TeamQualifiersFinals017 (1954, 1957, 1960, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1985–88, 1989–92, 1995, 2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2026)3 (2000, 2017, 2021)01 (2021)04 (2008, 2017, 2021, 2026)6 (2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2026)08 (1975, 1995, 2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2026)1 (2008)7 (1995, 2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2026)2 (2021, 2026)17 (1954, 1957, 1960, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1985–88, 1989–92, 1995, 2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2026)1 (2008)009 (1954, 1957, 1960, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1977, 1985–88, 1989–92, 1995)2 (2017, 2021)1 (2021)3 (2008, 2017, 2021)5 (2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021)4 (2000, 2013, 2017, 2021)3 (2013, 2017, 2021)4 (2013, 2017, 2021, 2026)1 (2021)2 (2000, 2008)04 (2000, 2008, 2013, 2017)4 (2000, 2017, 2021, 2026)3 (2017, 2021)01 (2000)01 (2008)0017 (1954, 1957, 1960, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1985–88, 1989–92, 1995, 2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2026)4 (2008, 2013, 2017, 2021)1 (2000)1 (2008)6 (2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2026)2 (2008, 2021)5 (2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021)5 (2008, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2026)04 (2013, 2017, 2021, 2026)2 (1995, 2000)2 (2017, 2021)02 (2008, 2017)7 (1995, 2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2026) 4 (2008, 2017, 2021, 2026)6 (1975, 1995, 2000, 2013, 2017, 2021)5 (2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021)2 (2013, 2017)4 (2017, 2021, 2026)0

Debuts The following table shows which years teams made their qualification tournament debut. It doesn't not include teams that have previously qualified automatically or invited to participate. YearAmericasAsia-PacificEuropeMiddle East-AfricaTotal2000 6200842013 12017 52021 1Total427215

See also

References