Ahead of this weekend’s Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) final, the sport’s International Rugby League (IRL) governing body has announced that the 2030 edition of the quadrennial competition will be jointly hosted across the Pacific Islands and the US with a ‘magic round’ format.
Five host cities across the Pacific and the US will stage games in the 2030 men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups, marking the first time that either region has hosted the event, and likely the first time the US will have even competed (should it indeed field a team).
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To facilitate that, without losing any of the current 10 participants, the number of participating teams in the men’s RLWC has been increased to 12, while participants in the women’s tournament (which runs concurrently) have been upped to 10.
The ‘magic round’ format means that each game from every tournament round will be hosted at the same stadium, a concept designed to maximize attendance and local interest, while minimizing the number of fixtures that suffer from poor turnout.
Indeed, IRL chair Troy Grant said: “This is a strategy to maximise the interest of broadcasters, government partners and fans in the current World Cup, which has regularly broken records for crowds and the number of television viewers because of the outstanding skill, intensity and passion of the players and teams.
“At the same time we want to take advantage of opportunities that are opening up in new frontiers where the Rugby League World Cup hasn’t previously been played.”
Grant added that the body will go to market to find the five prospective event hosts, explaining: “The cities will be ones that have the appropriate stadia to run matches over multiple days to get all of the pool matches played in one location.”
Although the host cities have not yet been named, the capitals of Tonga (Nukuʻalofa) and Samoa (Apia) are both likely, given that they are the sport’s most prominent Pacific island representatives (both reached the semi-finals of this year’s edition), while in the US, Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium has hosted NRL rugby league action in each of the past three campaigns, making it a likely host.
Given that the US’ stadium infrastructure also far exceeds that of the Pacific islands, it is also the likely host of the showpiece semi-finals and final.
Despite the multiple hosts, the Australian Rugby League Commission will once again organize the event, reflecting the status of the national body as the most powerful organization in the sport, as well as the success of the current 2026 RLWC that it is currently hosting.
Grant continued: “The ARLC have agreed to be the organisers, with the IRL, of RLWC30. They will be our tournament partners, and I would like to thank ARLC Executive Chairman Peter V’landys for his vision and support to grow international rugby league and ensure the Rugby League World Cup is the pinnacle of our game.
“RLWC26 has been a massive success by every possible metric – both on and off the field – and the ARLC has the capacity and ability to help build the World Cup into a truly global event.
Alongside the men’s and women’s editions of the tournament in the US and the Pacific, the 2030 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup, which also runs concurrently with the other two tournaments, will take place in France.
