The 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup qualification was announced on 15 December 2023. It featured four confederation qualification tournaments for each of the four International Rugby League confederations (Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Middle East-Africa).
The winner of the Asia-Pacific tournament directly qualified for the World Cup, while the runner up qualified for the 2025 World Series â the tournament to determine the final World Cup qualification spot. The two group winners of Europe directly qualified for the World Cup, while the playoff winner of the two runners-up qualified for the 2025 World Series. The Confederations of Americas & Middle East-Africa did not feature any direct qualifications, with the respective winners qualifying for the 2025 World Series. The winner of the World Series secured the final qualification spot for the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup.
Qualification was open to all full and affiliate member nations who did not receive automatic qualification from their results in the 2021 World Cup.
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Americas qualification was intended to have been a four-way competition between Brazil, Canada, Jamaica and the US, with a semi-finals then final format based on IRL rankings, with the winner progressing to the 2025 World Series.
In June 2024, Brazil withdrew from the tournament due to funding and logistical difficulties.
The original draw and schedule was announced 30 January 2024 and would have seen Canada play Jamaica and the US play Brazil in the semi-finals.
The revised schedule saw Jamaica play USA in a single semi-final, with the winners playing Canada (who received a bye to the final) for the place in the World Series. Canada played a friendly against the USA Pioneers in lieu of their semi-final match, with Jamaica also facing the Pioneers as a result of losing their semi-final as a curtain-raiser before the final. Canada beat the Pioneers 80âÂÂ0 and Jamaica beat the Pioneers 48âÂÂ12.
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The 2024 Women's Pacific Bowl acted as qualification for the World Cup. First place qualified for the World Cup, second place qualified for the 2025 World Series.
The draw and schedule was announced 30 August 2024.
Seven teams entered into the competition. The two lowest ranked teams, Italy and the Netherlands, played each other in a preliminary play-off match. The resulting six teams were split into two groups of three. The two group winning countries qualified for the World Cup, while the runners up in each group contested a play-off for a spot in the 2025 World Series.
The draw for the groups was made on 17 January 2024, with fixtures confirmed on 7 February. Teams were seeded in pairs (highest ranked with second ranked, third with fourth and fifth with sixth) based on their IRL ranking on the date of the draw with one team from each pair in each group.
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<section end=Europe qualifying 2024/> The IRL World Rankings were updated in July 2024 following the group stage of the European qualification tournament. This saw Greece move up one spot to ninth and Ireland drop one spot to tenth. As a result, Greece hosted the World Series playoff. <section begin=Europe qualifying playoff 2024/>
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hosted in a two match test series where the winner qualified for the 2025 World Series.
The series saw each team win one match and the aggregate score was 22-all. Under the tournament rules the team with the highest aggregate scores would advance but with the aggregate scores tied, the result had to move to the next deciding criteria. The next deciding criteria was tries scored. Again this was tied with each having scored four. The next deciding criteria was number of goals kicked, which saw Nigeria advance to the World Series with a three to two goal advantage.
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The 2025 Women's Rugby League World Series was the final qualification phase for 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup.
The series was played by:
The winner qualified for the World Cup.
In March 2025, when announcing the tournament structure, Canada was also announced as the host nation.
The draw for the competition was based on rank with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd in the semi-finals.
Canada announced an extended 33-woman squad on 10 September. This was reduced to 20 on 14 October.
Head Coach: Matt Barron
Fiji announced an extended 25-woman squad on 19 September. This was reduced to 20 on 15 October.
Head Coach: Joe Dakuitoga
Ireland announced an extended 33-woman squad on 18 September. This was reduced to 20 on 15 October.
Head Coach: Matt Kennerson
Nigeria announced an extended 35-woman squad on 12 September. This was reduced to 20 on 18 October.
Head Coach: Bolu Fagborun
Fixtures for the tournament were initially confirmed in March, and would see the two semi-finals in Brampton with the final in Toronto. In July, the fixtures were revised to include a third-place playoff, and would see all four game played in Brampton. The third-place playoff had no bearing on World Cup qualification but did count for world ranking purposes. <section begin=Interconfederation_Fixtures/>
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All four matches were streamed globally on CBC Sports YouTube channel.