Rugby League World Cup hosts
Seven countries have hosted and/or co-hosted the Rugby League World Cup. England, France, Australia and New Zealand have hosted the World Cup on multiple occasions and the tournament has never been played outside its traditional 'heartlands' in these areas. The International Rugby League is responsible for picking hosts.
From 1954 to 1960 the Men's Rugby League World Cup was held triennially, however from 1960 to 2008 World Cups were sporadic. In this time period hosts were picked and tournaments were arranged between the four traditional rugby league playing countries and the IRL. From 2013 World Cups were held quadrennially and countries have to send an application and bids to the IRL to host the World Cup as more teams participate in international rugby league.
The Women's Rugby League World Cup was first held in 2000 alongside the men's version and eight years later the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup was inaugurated. Both these tournament began as part of the Festival of World Cups, a collection of smaller competitions played as a build up to the opening of the men's tournament. For the 2017 World Cup, the women's tournament received equal status and was played alongside the men's tournament, with the Wheelchair World Cup following in 2021.
List of Rugby League World Cup hosts
Men's
NB: As Great Britain was the IRL nation until 1995, the United Kingdom is used to refer to host nations before this time regardless of the number of home nations which actually hosted the tournament.Women's
NB: As Great Britain was the IRL nation until 2003, the United Kingdom is used to refer to host nations before this time regardless of the number of home nations which actually hosted the tournament.Bids
2013
Bids:- /
Winners: /
2017
Bids:- / /
Winners: / /
NB: The wheelchair tournament was held in
2021 (Held in 2022)
Bids:- /
On 15 April 2015, the UAE expressed interest in biding for the World Cup with a formal bid being later materialised. The UAERL believed the country has the facilities, as well as the financial backing and infrastructure to host the World Cup. The bid was later cancelled after rugby union officials in the UAE had the leader of the bid arrested for "managing a sporting body which is not registered and therefore not recognised by the relevant government authority".
On 25 November 2015 England's RFL announced it had government backed plans to host the 2021 World Cup after the success of 2013. The RFL put in an official bid for the 2021 World Cup on 30 June 2016 with £15m funding from the government and the aim to have over 1 million spectators. The USARL put a bid in with the hope to grow the sport throughout North America.
Winners:
2025 moved to 2026
BidsExpressed interest in biding
Withdrawn following successful bid
- /
The IRL then went on the recommend France who in July 2021 officially bid to host the World Cup and again won the right to host the tournament. However in May 2023, France withdrew due to financial concerns from the new French government elected that month.
Following France's withdrawal, Fiji, New Zealand, Qatar, and South Africa expressed interest in bidding. In August 2023, the IRL confirmed that a Southern Hemisphere nation would host the tournament in 2026.
Following public interest surrounding the Qatar bid, the IRL confirmed it was not an official bid and also confirmed that the IRL did not see Qatar as a feasible option for hosting an international tournament at present, but would be open to them hosting in the future. They also confirmed interest from other Middle Eastern nations.
On 24 July 2024, the IRL announced
that Australia would host the 2026 tournament, with a number of games played in Papua New Guinea.
Winners: /,, /
2030
On 3 August 2023, the IRL announced the men's tournament would continue on a four-year cycle with the next edition taking place in 2026 and held concurrently with the women's and wheelchair tournaments. The following men's event would take place in 2030 with the next women's tournament taking place as a stand-alone event in 2028 before continuing on a four-year cycle. The decision was made to ease the strain on future host nations, and as recognition of the growth of the women's competition. The same decision was made on 13 November for the wheelchair tournament for the same reasons, with their new four-year cycle starting in 2029.On 19 December 2025, the IRL reversed this decision, and announced that the next women's, and wheelchair world cups would be held concurrently with the men's tournament in 2030. This decision was made to preserve the uniqueness of the tournament, with the sport being one of only a few which hold all disciplines of their world cup at the same time.
Between the two announcements, a number of nations had bid to host solely the men's, women's and wheelchair world cups in 2030, 2028, and 2029 respectively:
Men's
BidsExpressed interest in biding:
- Seven nations
On 31st July 2024, the International Rugby League announced Kenya, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, and the United States had made a success first round bid and would be advancing those bids to the second round. When originally planned for 2029, it was known that New Zealand and South Africa had expressed interest to bid, and that International Rugby League had targeted the United States to host but later favoured them for 2033 instead.
In August 2024, South Africa estimated that hosting the event would result in a R4 billion boost to the country's economy. In September, South Africa submitted a proposal to host the 2025 Men's and Women's World Series, in attempt to strengthen their bids to host the 2028 and 2030 World Cups. Their World Series bids were deemed not viable by the IRL.
In November 2025, Fox League reported that the United States were frontrunners to host the 2030 World Cup, with the IRL keen to capitalise on the commercial growth of the sport following National Rugby League's Rugby League Las Vegas event which had started the previous year.
Women's
BidsWithdrawn bids
Expressed interest in biding:
- Eight nations
On 29th July 2024, the International Rugby League announced France, Kenya, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and South Africa had made a success first round bid and would be advancing those bids to the second round.
In September 2024, South Africa submitted a proposal to host the 2025 Men's and Women's World Series, in attempt to strengthen their bids to host the 2028 and 2030 World Cups. Their World Series bids were deemed not viable by the IRL. South Africa later withdrew their bid for the 2028 Women's World Cup to focus on their bid for thr 2030 Men's World Cup.
Wheelchair
BidsExpressed interest in biding:
- Five nations
On 30th July 2024, the International Rugby League announced England, France, and the United States had made a success first round bid and would be advancing those bids to the second round.
Total bids by country
;Key- C = Combined bids
- M = Men's bids
- W = Women's bids
- WC = Wheelchair bids
- bolded = Successful bids
crossed out= Withdrawn bids- NB: Rejected bids and expressions of interest are not included
| Country | Bids | Years | Times hosted |
| 4 | 2017 C, 2026 C, 2028 W, 2030 M | 4 | |
| 4 | 2021 C, | 0 | |
| 3 | 2013 C, 2017 C, 2026 C | 7 | |
| 3 | 2013 C, 2021 C, 2029 WC | 7 | |
| 3 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 2017 C, | 0 | |
| 3 | 2017 C, 2028 W, 2030 M | 1 | |
| 2 | 2021 C, | 0 | |
| 2 | 2028 W, 2030 M | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 2013 C | 3 |