IRL Men's World Rankings

The IRL Men's World Rankings are the ranking system for men's national teams in the sport of rugby league football. The teams of the member nations of the International Rugby League, rugby league football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. A point system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of IRL-recognized international matches. Under the existing system, rankings are based on a team's performance over the last three years, with more recent results and more significant matches being more heavily weighted to help reflect the current competitive state of a team.

Ranking system

The IRL World Rankings are calculated based on an average of points accumulated by each nation over a three-year cycle. Under the structure, matches deemed of higher importance such as World Cup games, Four Nations and other major tournament finals draw more points than mid-season Tests and other ‘Internationals’. For each match that a nation participates they are given a base level of points. This base level is affected upon the type of match and the status of the opponent.
Bonus points are given for teams that reach certain milestones deemed of significant international importance including reaching a tournament final or qualifying for an event such as a World Cup.
From the total number of points that a nation will receive these points are then averaged to help give a more accurate view of the performance of a nation over the three-year cycle.
Nations which have played fewer than 5 matches over a three-year cycle will be penalised under the current point structure.

Use of the rankings

The rankings are used by International Rugby League to view the progression and ability of the national rugby league teams.
The data is currently used in things as seeding for tournaments such as the European Cup, Oceania Cup MEA Championship, Americas Championship and the South American Championship and the World Cup.

Current calculation method

Match status

A weighting system has been implemented by the IRL to give more points to teams if they gain a victory over a major team in a major tournament, with friendlies ranked with considerably fewer points than any World Cup finals match or the final of Cups such as the European, Mediterranean and Pacific Cups.

Opponent strength

The IRL has organized the ranking so that a win against a very highly ranked opponent is a considerably greater achievement than a win against a low-rated opponent, so the strength of the opposing team is a factor.

Assessment period

All matches played over the last three years are included in the calculation of the rankings, but there is a weighting system implemented to put more emphasis on recent results.

Historical rankings

Team	Jun 2013	Dec 2013	Aug 2014	Nov 2014	May 2015	Dec 2015	Jun 2016	Oct 2016	Nov 2016	May 2017	Oct 2017	Dec 2017	Jul 2018	Dec 2018	Jul 2019	Nov 2019	Dec 2021	Jul 2022	Dec 2022	Jun 2023	Dec 2023	Jun 2024	Dec 2024	Jun 2025	Nov 2025
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	39	40	35	36	36
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	39	39	42	42	–	–	–	51	49	52	49	34	35	34
	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	4	4	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
	31	29	22	22	18	17	17	17	18	18	20	20	23	39	42	42	41	47	48	48	49	55	53	54	54
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	44	43	40	45	45	47	46	47	47
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	43	43	45	45	41	42	40	22	25	31	33	29	29	29
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	41	46	46	47	48	44	39	41	34	35	34	36	36	37	38
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	38	34	36	31	30	35	37	40	41	42
	19	16	16	14	13	13	14	14	12	13	15	17	16	21	21	27	36	38	44	43	46	41	31	31	30
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	34	34	36	37	32	33	32	33	32	43	32	23	22	26	23	21	23	25
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	40	40	41	41	40	45	45	36	36	40	42	43	44	41
	17	14	15	17	17	22	19	22	25	24	24	30	31	43	28	23	22	20	12	13	10	10	10	10	9
	–	26	30	29	30	30	29	25	24	25	26	26	24	25	25	22	27	27	21	21	20	21	24
	26	27	27	26	27	25	25	27	27	27	32	34	35	44	47	43	46	46	49	50	53	54	52	53	53
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	39	39	38	39	37	37	36	38	–	–	–	47	47	41	43	44	45	46
	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	3	2	3	4	4	3	3	3	3	3
	27	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	55	56	54	55	55
	7	5	5	6	6	7	7	6	7	8	7	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	7	7	7	6	7	7	7
	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	8	8	6	6	8	7	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	8
	18	18	18	18	19	19	22	24	23	23	28	28	30	30	35	31	29	25	21	21	22	22	27	26	23
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	33	31	31	26	24	30	30	37	38	39
	–	28	26	23	24	24	24	28	28	28	23	23	26	19	16	11	10	11	16	16	15	14	15	14	15
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	45	45	40	39	–	–	–	–	–	–	50	47	48	48
	–	31	33	32	33	33	34	38	38	33	29	29	21	18	20	21	30	35	37	40	50	48	57	51	51
	9	9	10	7	7	6	6	7	8	7	8	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	11	12	16	16	18	18	14
	13	12	12	12	12	12	13	15	13	14	12	13	13	13	14	13	16	17	14	14	13	13	17	17	17
	22	23	24	27	29	27	27	16	17	17	13	15	15	14	13	20	18	21	13	15	18	18	19	20	18
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	41	41	34	34	–	–	–	45	44	38	39	41	42	43
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	32	31	27	26	30	30	31
	25	–	31	33	34	34	35	36	36	39	42	47	47	48	–	45	47	48	50	51	54	53	51	52	52
	16	20	21	21	20	20	20	21	21	21	18	9	9	9	9	10	13	13	8	8	9	9	16	16	21
	21	22	23	24	23	18	18	20	20	19	17	18	18	16	17	16	15	10	19	19	14	15	13	13	16
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	44	39	38	36	32	32	32	35
	30	–	34	34	36	35	36	40	40	42	43	48	48	–	–	34	33	33	43	42	43	44	56	34	32
	29	24	25	25	25	28	30	30	30	30	27	27	28	26	26	25	14	14	18	18	12	12	11	9	11
	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	28	27	28	24	23	29	29	38	39	40
	–	–	–	–	32	32	33	33	32	31	31	33	34	24	24	–	–	–	–	–	47	52	50	57	57
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	42	35	33	33	33
	20	19	19	19	21	26	26	26	26	26	22	22	19	20	18	17	20	23	35	34	28	25	28	27	22
	6	7	8	11	11	14	11	12	15	15	16	10	10	10	10	6	5	5	6	6	6	7	6	6	6
	–	–	–	–	35	–	32	32	33	34	34	24	27	22	22	–	26	24	29	33	23	27	23	24	27
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	23	23	19	21	22	30	29	24	24	25	25	20
	14	15	14	15	16	15	16	18	16	16	19	19	20	29	29	37	35	37	–	–	–	45	45	46	45
	8	8	7	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	6	6	7	7	7	8	7	3	3	4	4	5	5	4
	11	11	11	8	8	9	9	9	4	4	4	7	7	8	8	9	11	15	17	17	19	19	22	22	28
	15	17	17	13	14	11	12	11	11	12	14	16	17	17	19	15	9	8	15	10	11	11	9	11	10
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	37	37	40	38	42	42	27	27	29	37	39	41	39	48	51	48	49	49
	24	25	29	31	28	31	31	31	31	32	33	35	32	37	37	36	38	30	25	26	25	28	26	28	26
	–	–	28	28	26	21	21	19	19	20	21	21	22	28	30	26	28	29	33	32	37	38	42	43	44
	28	30	32	30	31	29	28	29	29	29	30	31	29	38	40	30	32	34	42	41	44	46	55	56	56
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	35	36	38	38	–	44	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	13	13	16	15	16	15	13	14	11	11	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	5	5	5	5	4	4	5
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	31	31	24	19	19	20	20	32	34	39	40	37
	23	21	20	20	22	23	23	23	22	22	25	25	25	35	37	39	25	26	28	28	20	20	14	15	12
	12	10	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	14	14	15	15	18	24	27	38	37	33	31	24	19	19
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	41	40	44	44	46	46	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	35	35	37	35	36	36	33	32	35	40	42	46	46	51	57	49	50	50
	5	6	6	9	9	8	8	8	9	9	9	12	12	11	11	14	23	16	10	11	17	17	12	12	13
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