The 2030 Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup will all take place at the same time, after the International Rugby League board made a U-turn on their original decision.
A proposal was accepted in 2023 that stated that, following the 2026 edition, the three competitions would run in separate years, with the Women’s taking place in 2028, the Wheelchair in 2029 and the Men’s in 2030.
However that has been overturned, with the plan now reverting back to it’s original state and the three competitions would run concurrently.
Where the tournaments will be held is yet to be decided, but reports from down under in November tipped the USA as the frontrunner to host.
On their decision, Chairman of the IRL, Troy Grant, said: “Through the ITT [Invitation to Tender] process, which attracted significant interest, we did not believe that represented the proper value for each of those genres as standalone competitions.
“The IRL was also overwhelmed with feedback from members, players and administrators, who felt that we have a unique forum where the three genres of our game are played together and that allows us a unique opportunity to bring the rugby league family together by keeping the three World Cups as the one event.
“The IRL Board has decided that the World Cups for 2030 will be Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair, so there will no longer be a standalone Women’s World Cup in 2028 and standalone Wheelchair World Cup in 2029.
“We look forward to continuing what was started at RLWC21 in England in 2022 as a very unique sporting offering, in that we are the only sport that offers Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair World Cups at the same time.”
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