2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup qualification – Europe

2026 (2026) Men's Rugby League World Cup qualification – Europe  ()
Number of teams	4
Host country	France
Winner	France
Matches played	4
Attendance	3,407 (852 per match)
Top scorers	César Rougé (20) Matty Fozard
Top try scorers	Nittim Pedrero (3) Éloi Pélissier
Tournaments  < 2021

The 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup European qualification tournament was an international rugby league tournament held in October 2024 to decide the nation that qualifies for the 2025 World Series and in-turn, potentially qualify for the 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup.^[1]

The tournament took place in October 2024 and was open to all full member nations as of 15 March 2024. The winner of the tournament advanced to the World Series in 2025.^[1]

On 14 March 2024, Ireland, Italy, and Scotland had their membership downgraded to affiliate members due to non-compliance with the membership policy, and as a result were no longer eligible to participate in the World Cup qualification process.^[2][3]

Teams played semi-finals and a final. The semi-finals were based on IRL Rank with highest-ranked playing lowest-ranked and second-highest playing second-lowest. The losing semi-finalists contested a third place playoff; this had no bearing on World Cup qualification, but did count for world ranking points.^[4]

The four eligible nations to compete in the tournament were confirmed to be participating on 25 July 2024; France, Serbia, Ukraine and Wales.

IRL Men's World Rankings – Europe
Rank	Full	Team	Pts %
8	Yes	France	28
11	Yes	Serbia	19
12	No	Netherlands	17
13	No	Italy	15
14	No	Greece	15
15	No	Malta	14
16	No	Ireland	14
17	Yes	Wales	13
19	No	Scotland	9
20	Yes	Ukraine	7
21	No	Czech Republic	7
22	No	Germany	6
24	No	Poland	6
25	No	Norway	6
32	No	Montenegro	4
34	No	Turkey	3
35	No	North Macedonia	3
36	No	Bulgaria	3
38	No	Spain	2
40	No	Albania	1
45	No	Russia	0
46	No	Sweden	0
47	No	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0
48	No	Hungary	0
53	No	Latvia	0
54	No	Denmark	0
55	No	Belgium	0
56	No	Estonia	0
References:[5][6]

The venues selected for the tournament were:^[7]

Carcassonne	Saint-Estève
Stade Albert Domec	Stade Municipal
Capacity: 10,000	Capacity: 6,000
Saint-Estève Carcassonne

On 16 October 2024, the squads were announced for the four nations competing in the tournament.^[8]

Player	Club
Jayson Goffin	Albi
Nittim Pedrero	Albi
Romain Franco	Bradford Bulls
Lucas Albert	Carcassonne
Vincent Albert	Carcassonne
Clément Boyer	Carcassonne
Nolan Lopez-Buttignol	Carcassonne
Guillermo Aispuro Bichet	Catalans Dragons
Alrix Da Costa	Catalans Dragons
Théo Fages	Catalans Dragons
Matthieu Laguerre	Catalans Dragons
Clement Martin	Catalans Dragons
Arthur Mourgue	Catalans Dragons
Romain Navarrete	Catalans Dragons
Arthur Romano	Catalans Dragons
César Rougé	Catalans Dragons
Thomas Lacans	Featherstone Rovers
Louis Jouffret	Halifax Panthers
Hugo Salabio	Huddersfield Giants
Mickaël Goudemand	Leeds Rhinos
Justin Sangaré	Leeds Rhinos
Ugo Tison	London Broncos
Hakim Miloudi	Pia
Florian Vailhen	Pia
Lambert Belmas	Toulouse Olympique
Benjamin Laguerre	Toulouse Olympique
Anthony Marion	Toulouse Olympique
Éloi Pélissier	Toulouse Olympique
Maxime Stefani	Toulouse Olympique
Mathieu Cozza	Wakefield Trinity
Tiaki Chan	Wigan Warriors

Nicholas O'Meley (Burleigh Bears), Nick Cotric (Catalans Dragons), Andrej Mora (Dorcol Tigers), David Nofoaluma, Sasha Popovic (Glebe Dirty Reds), Jake O’Meley (Lakes United Seagulls), Ilija Cotric (Mounties), Jesse Soric (NZ Warriors), Aleksandar Pavlovic, Djordje Krnjeta, Dzavid Jasari, Enis Bibic, Strahinja Stoiljkovic, (Partisan 1953), Jordan Grant (Penrith Panther), Stefan Arsic (Radnicki Nis), Marko Jankovic, Milos Calic, Nikola Djuric, Rajko Trifunovic, Vojislav Dedic, Vuk Strbac (Red Star), Joshua Coric (St George Illawarra).

Tim Knight (Caloundra Sharks), Daniel Janissen (Cardiff Cobras), Jonah Ngaronoa (Glebe Dirty Reds), Yevhen Checheta, Yevhen Davydov, Anatolii Hrankovskyi, Volodymyr Karpenko, Vitalii Puchkov, Dmytro Semerenko, Oleksandr Shcherbyna, Oleksandr Skorbach, Oleksandr Syvykoz, Mykhailo Troian, Yevhenii Trusov, Volodymyr Voitov (Kharkiv Legion XIII), Valentyn Korchak, Ostap Kozak (Lviv Tigers), Victor Tereszko (Queanbeyan Blues), Danylo Vedler (Rivne Giants), Brock Jurkans (Singleton Greyhounds), Tigris Polata (Southern Suburbs Magpies), Tom Mencinsky (Sydney University RLFC).

Player	Club
Bailey Antrobus	York Knights
Harry Boots	Cornwall
Sam Bowring	Midlands Hurricanes
Mike Butt	Widnes Vikings
Max Clarke	Barrow Raiders
Joe Coope-Franklin	Salford Red Devils
Connor Davies	Halifax Panthers
Curtis Davies	Dewsbury Rams
Gil Dudson	Warrington Wolves
Will Evans	Whitehaven
Ben Evans	North Wales Crusaders
Jude Ferreira	Hunslet
Matty Fozard	Widnes Vikings
Charlie Glover	Salford Red Devils
Elliot Kear (C)	Batley Bulldogs
Ben Lane	St. Helens
Rhodri Lloyd	Widnes Vikings
Josh Ralph	St. George Illawarra Dragons Reserves
Owen Restall	Dewsbury Rams
Luis Roberts	Leeds Rhinos
Ashton Robinson	Leeds Rhinos
Matt Ross	Cornwall
Anthony Walker	Swinton Lions
Billy Walkley	Keighley Cougars
Rhys Williams	Swinton Lions
Huw Worthington	Whitehaven

	Semi-finals					Final
	8	France	74
	20	Ukraine	8
							France	48
							Wales	6
	11	Serbia	0
	17	Wales	48			Third-place playoff
							Serbia	50
							Ukraine	10

22 October 2024 17:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)

Serbia	0–48	Wales
	1st: 0–30 2nd: 0–18 Report	Tries: Fozard, Kear, Walker, Evans, Connor Davies, Butt, Worthington, Coope-Franklin Goals: Fozard (7/7), Kear (1/1)

Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne Attendance: 1,257[9] Referee: Geoffrey Poumes (France)

Wales head coach, John Kear, did not travel to France with the squad, after being admitted to hospital the preceding weekend. In his absence the team was coached by assistant coach, Mark Moxon.^[10]

22 October 2024 19:30 CEST (UTC+02:00)

France	74–8	Ukraine
Tries: Vailhe, Budde, Pedrero (3), Vailhen, Pelissier (2), Zenon, Goffin, Jouffret, Aispuro Bichett (2), Marti Goals: Albert (6/10), Aispuro Bichett (3/4)	1st: 48–0 2nd: 26–8 Report	Tries: Skorbach, Polata

Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne Attendance: 1,257[11] Referee: Stephane Vincent (France)

The third-place playoff formed part of the tournament but had no bearing on qualification.

26 October 2024 17:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)

Ukraine	10–50	Serbia
Tries: Vedler, Skorbach Goals: Jannissen (0/1), Skorbach (1/1)	1st: 0–22 2nd: 10–28 Report	Tries: Popovic, Pavlovic (2), N. Cotic (2), I. Cotric, Nofoaluma, Jankovic, O'Meley Goals: Soric (6/7), O'Meley (1/2)

Stade Municipal, Saint-Estève Referee: Mo Drizza (France)

26 October 2024 14:30 CEST (UTC+02:00)

Wales	6–48	France
Tries: Williams Goals: Fozard (1/1)	1st: 6–20 2nd: 0–28 Report	Tries: Romano, Rouge (2), Franco, Pelissier, Sangare, Fages, Belmas, Chan Goals: Rouge (6/9)

Stade Municipal, Saint-Estève Attendance: 2,150[12] Referee: Aaron Moore (England)