The road to the 2026 men's Rugby League World Cup to be hosted in Australia has been locked in, with just two spots available for teams not already locked into the tournament.
The IRL will reduce the World Cup from 16 teams to 10 teams for the next edition, with France pulling out of hosting the tournament.
That saw it shuffled back from 2025 to 2026, and the venue relocated to Australia.
Australia, as hosts, alongside Papua New Guinea have already qualified, and so too have all of the quarter-finalists from the 2021 tournament held in England, being England, New Zealand, Fiji, Lebanon, Tonga and Samoa.
The remaining two spots will be determined through two play-offs, with one in the Northern Hemisphere, and one in the Southern Hemisphere.
In the Northern Hemisphere contest, France will host Jamaica in Albi on October 25, while the Southern Hemisphere game will see the Cook Islands meet South Africa in a match to be hosted by the ARLC alongside the Pacific Championships.
The matches were originally set to be held as a tournament at a World Series, but with no viable host, the play-off route has been chosen instead.
Jamaica qualify to play France by virtue of being the only full member nation in the Americas, while France qualified after winning the European qualifying tournament, hammering Ukraine and Wales on the way through.
The Cook Islands and South Africa also meet because they are the only non-qualified full member nations in their respective regions, being the Pacific and Africa/Middle East.
The timing of the match means the Cook Islands are unlikely to participate in this year's Pacific Bowl tournament, although could still do if they simply have their bye on the weekend they play against South Africa.
Should the Cook Islands pull out of the Pacific Championships, the ARLC would need to find a replacement nation, and may turn to a non Pacific team to get the job done, with Australia touring England meaning the top-tier three-team tournament will feature New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga, while the second-tier tournament features Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the yet to be confirmed team.
The women's tournament will feature eight teams in 2026, and has just one spot up for grabs with England, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Wales, France and Samoa qualified, while the winner of a World Series (details of which are yet to be announced) played between Canada, Fiji, Ireland and Nigeria will take the final spot.
The Wheelchair tournament also features eight teams, with Australia, England, France and Wales confirmed to play alongside four yet to be named teams.
