Fiji, New Zealand, Qatar and South Africa express interest in hosting 2025 Rugby League World Cup after French withdrawal

May 20, 2023

The International Rugby League (IRL) has advised that four nations have expressed initial interest in becoming the new host of its 2025 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) following France having withdrawn from hosting the event.

Earlies this week the French Rugby League Federation (FFR XIII) withdrew its hosting, advising that, despite the work carried out by its organising committee, it would not be possible to provide a guarantee for the risk of loss for the event.

The move came after the conditions initially set out to secure the economic viability of the event were not met, with additional time and funding provided to the organising committee by the French Government.

An IRL board meeting held on Wednesday, advised that initial declarations of interest to host the tournament had been received from Fiji, New Zealand, Qatar and South Africa.

Qatar, with no history in the sport, is reported to have approached the IRL with both state and private bids, looking to attract sporting events to make use of infrastructure developed for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

SunSport advised that the Governments of both South Africa and Fiji are each keen to stage the event, while the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) reportedly hopes to have their package together within weeks, with a July meeting key to its destination.

IRL Chairman Troy Grant and his board will consider options before coming to a decision - with conditions and human rights, particularly the attitude towards women - part of the thinking.

Commenting on the bides, Grant stated “how real they are, we’re yet to make those assessments.

“My personal view of the attractiveness would be in Qatar’s financial capability to meet the costs of a tournament of our size and scale.

“We’ve done no due diligence to give expressions of interest due course of credit yet but their stadia are first class, that’s been proven with the FIFA World Cup having been held there successfully.

“The close proximity of stadia and the less travel required, even compared to the World Cup in England, would be massively advantageous regarding costs.

“But equally, the proper due diligence on human rights is a consideration, particularly because women in rugby league is so important to our code.

“We’d have to be satisfied there would be no discrimination and our ability to have a women’s World Cup would be central in addition to the wheelchair and physical disability opportunities.

“Our World Cup would be earlier in the year than football’s, so seasonal conditions would be tough I’d imagine. That’s another factor to consider as our international window is October-November.

“We’re not wedded to anything but we’re the only sport that has ever conducted three World Cups at one time. It stood us alone, so it’s a massive selling point. It drew record commercial investment.

“To abandon that strategy would be disappointing. That’s critical to our future.

“The women’s game is on a growth trajectory of astronomical proportions. To not take advantage of what we created at the last World Cup would be a massive setback.”

New Zealand co-hosted the 2017 RLWC with Australia and Papua New Guinea, and in the wake of the French withdrawal, NZRL Chief Executive, Greg Peters confirmed that discussions were underway with the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) over another potential joint bid that could also involve Pacific Island nations.

Image: The Rugby League World Cup trophy. Credit: Shutterstock.

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