New Zealand has been joined by four other nations in confirming tender offers to bid for hosting rights to the next Women's Rugby League World Cup.
Following the decision of France to pull out of hosting all of the Rugby League World Cup tournaments in 2025, the game's international governing body have been forced to shuffle things around.
Australia were confirmed last week as the sole hosts of the 2026 Men's and Women's World Cup, while the following women's World Cup has been moves to 2029.
For it, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, France, Kenya and South Africa have been confirmed as the five nations to be in the running to host the tournament by the IRL.
Of the five countries, only New Zealand has hosted previously when they held the tournament in 2003. On each occasion, either Australia or England hosted.
New Zealand would likely be the favourites, however, the IRL may look to expand the game through the World Cup, with France's bid coming as the most surprising given they dropped out of hosting rights for the now postponed 2025 tournament.
Despite that, Federation Franรงaise de Rugby XIII, Dominique Baloup said the nation now is ready to host a tournament.
โFor rugby league, France Fรฉminines 2028 can be a factor of influence here and in Europe. The French government, in its choice of public policies, strongly supports the development of women's sports," he said.
โThe 2028 Women's World Cup will fit perfectly into this scheme. The preparatory work from 2025 onwards will give the French Federation the opportunity to strengthen its links with the domestic territories and their local authorities that are already home to our sport and its developed activities, and to promote forward-looking agreements for new ones, or those that will be rediscovering Rugby League.โ
Papua New Guinea, who could be gearing up for addition into the NRL in the coming years, are likely to play a role in hosting the 2026 tournament alongside Australia, and PNGRFL chairman Sandis Tsaka said hosting the tournament would show the 'depth' of rugby league in the country.
โPapua New Guinea Rugby League is extremely excited to have this opportunity to tender for the first stand-alone Women's Rugby League World Cup,โ Tsaka said.
โAs Papua New Guinea moves further towards having a team in the NRL, having the opportunity to host the first stand-alone Women's Rugby League World Cup shows the depth of rugby league in PNG.โ
New Zealand would be the most well set up facilities wise to host such a tournament, although resources required to host the eight-team tournament are less than what is required for the male counterparts.
Neither Kenya nor South Africa has ever qualified for a women's Rugby League World Cup, but Kenya will clash with Nigeria in the Middle-East Africa playoff for a spot at the 2025 World Series this September, with that series to determine the final two teams who qualify for the World Cup.
IRL Chairman Tony Grant said the response to tender offers has been 'encouraging'.
โThe response from the rugby league world to the invitation to tender process has been really encouraging,โ Grant said.
โThe strategy to reduce the size of World Cup tournaments and to place them in standalone years was based on two main objectives: increasing IRL's commercial strength and broadening the number of host countries.
โThe unprecedented spread of potential hosts from all corners of the rugby league map is a clear sign that the World Cup is a much more accessible event than it has been, and we look forward to receiving some compelling final bids.โ
The tenderers for the Wheelchair World Cup (2029) and Men's World Cup (2030) will be confirmed in the coming days.
