Rugby Canada’s need to raise additional funds to compete at the World Cup comes despite the team entering the tournament as the world’s second highest-ranked side. Unlike many of its major rivals, the Canadian team continues to operate as a group of amateurs, with limited financial support for its players—many of whom play club rugby in England.
Playing club rugby has allowed these players to regularly face top international talent and secure their own income, contributing to their success on the pitch and the presence of genuine world-class players in the international squad. The team finished Pool B with the maximum 15 points and a +121-point differential, underscoring their dominance, before routing Australia 46–5 in the quarter-final and defeating defending champions New Zealand 34–19 in the semifinal.
The team’s route to the final has been easier on the pitch than off it, but that changes this weekend when they face host nation England. One step from completing their mission of winning a first World Cup title, Canada enter the match as underdogs. In England, they will compete not only against one of the world’s best teams but also against an opponent with far greater financial investment and institutional support.
Unlike Canada, the England women’s team has been fully professional since January 2019, with players on full-time contracts. That move marked a historic milestone in the international women’s game and has since been replicated by other leading nations, notably New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales — three teams Canada has already defeated at the 2025 tournament.
By driving the shift to professionalism in international women’s rugby, England can be described as the benchmark side, benefiting from substantially more time and resources devoted to their program.
Since 2019, the Red Roses have lost just one of 63 matches — a surprise defeat to New Zealand in the 2022 World Cup final. Like Canada, England have been dominant at the 2025 World Cup. Strengthening their position as pre-match favorites, they will be supported by an expected record home crowd at Allianz Stadium.
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By GlobalDataThe final has sold out, meaning the 82,000-seat venue will comfortably surpass the current highest-attended women’s rugby match — England v France at the 2023 Six Nations, which drew 58,498.
Strong ticket sales for the World Cup final underscore the growing appetite for women’s rugby in England. By contrast, the last major international tournament hosted in Canada, the WXV in 2024, saw fewer than 4,000 tickets sold at BC Place for its triple-header opening day.
Rugby is seen as a growing sport in Canada, and players are working to raise both awareness and the overall profile of the sport in North America. A significant development is the long-term broadcasting agreement with TSN for all international match coverage from 2024 through 2029, which ensures live exposure on a mainstream national broadcaster.
However, Canada lacks a long history of international success and the sporting pedigree enjoyed by rugby nations with deeper traditions in the sport.
This disparity is evident in online popularity and financial resources compared with their 2025 World Cup final opponents. On Instagram, Rugby Canada has fewer than 133,000 followers, compared with 1.54 million for England Rugby, boosted by the success of the men’s team (2003 World Cup winners) and England’s historical role in the sport.
English players also receive much greater mainstream attention: 2024 World Player of the Year Ellie Kildunne has 130,621 Instagram followers, while Canada’s Alex Tessier, also nominated for the 2024 award, has an unofficial account following of 4,567.
Financial differences further underline the challenge Canada faces in the final. Outside of team fundraising, Rugby Canada reported total revenue of CAD 5.11 million (USD 3.71m) in its 2024 annual report. Rugby Canada CEO, Nathan Bombrys, in April 2025, cited that even after its fundraising efforts for the tournament, its overall budget would be CAD 3.6 million (USD 2.61m) – one of the smallest budgets in the entire tournament.
The 2023-24 annual report for England Rugby highlights total revenue of £175.2 million (USD 236.01m) and noted a government commitment of £12.13 million (USD 16.34m) to support opportunities for women and girls across the country. The RFU’s naming rights partnership with Allianz, for the venue set to host the World Cup final, generates over three times as much as the collective commercial success of Rugby Canada, worth £10 million a year ($12.8m).
On paper, the Women’s Rugby World Cup Final pits the two best teams against each other for the title of world champion. In reality, Canada will again have to defy long odds to beat England and deny them a second consecutive World Cup final disappointment. But sport is never a forgone conclusion, and sports history evidences that anything is possible against logic and expectation. Canada will look to channel the success of sporting underdogs before them, such as the amateur US Ice hockey which won gold at the 1980 Winter Olympics against the professional Soviets, to cause their very own monumental and surprising upset.
