Details of the format and fixtures for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup have been confirmed with England learning the new format that they’ll need to navigate to make it past the group stages.

After having the biggest and arguably best Rugby League World Cup in history in 2022, when the men’s, women’s and wheelchair competitions ran simultaneously, the organisers have agreed to do that once again.

However, the men’s comp has seen a reduction in teams from 16 to 10 and that has skewed the format, which has seen plenty of people asking questions.

How the 2026 Rugby League World Cup works

Australia and New Zealand will face off in the tournament opener as the major teams in group A, where they’re joined by Fiji and the Cook Islands. That group will function as standard with every team playing each other once and the top two progressing.

Groups B and C are comprised of three teams but they will play teams in the opposite group. For example, England are in group B but will play each team in group C one time meaning Shaun Wane’s side will meet Tonga, Papua New Guinea and France. Each of those group C teams will face all three group B teams; England, Samoa and Lebanon.

In terms of progression to the semi-finals, groups B and C will form a six-team table with the top two progressing and joining the top two of group A in the semi-finals. The semi-final winners will then obviously play in the final, held at Suncorp Stadium on the 15th November.

Who, where and when do England play

Having been drawn in group B, it means England play the three teams in group C; Tonga, Papua New Guinea and France.

Both Tonga and France will be familiar opponents with Tonga beaten by England in a recent autumn series whilst England have faced France in mid-season internationals in recent years.

The tournament starts on the 15th of October with England playing their first game against Tonga on Saturday the 17th in Perth with the game kicking off at 10:05 am in England. They’ll play France at the same stadium a week later with kick-off 7:35 am in England, before concluding their group games against PNG on Friday the 30th in Wollongong. Kick-off for that game is 9:05 am.

Should they progress from the group, which they would do by having the first or second-most points from the six group B and C teams, then the semi-finals are held on the weekend of the 7th and 8th of November. One game will be played in Newcastle and the other in Sydney, both at 9:05 am.

The final is played on Sunday the 15th at Suncorp, kicking off at 8:35 am in England.

What about the women’s and wheelchair World Cups

Both the women’s and wheelchair tournaments are a lot more simple with just eight teams in each meaning two pools of four with the top two in each group progressing to the semi-finals.

In the women’s comp, England are in group A with Australia, Samoa and Wales, each of whom they will play once. They open their comp against Wales on the 17th October at 7:35 am in a double header with England’s men.

Their game against Australia is also a double header with the men but interestingly, and rightly so, sees the women as the main event as they play second. Their final group game against Samoa is also a double header with the men, kicking off at 6:50 am.

Semi-finals and the final are the same dates and venues as the men, albeit with earlier kick-off times.

As for the wheelchair world cup, England are grouped with Wales, USA and Ireland and they will play them in that order on the 30th October, 3rd November and 6th November respectively. Dates for the semi-finals and final are yet to be fully confirmed seemingly with the Rugby League World Cup website offering multiple dates for each event at the time of writing.

All fixtures from all three competitions can be found here on the Rugby League World Cup website.

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