2017 Rugby League World Cup

2017 (2017) World Cup  ()
Number of teams 14
Host countries  Australia
 New Zealand
 Papua New Guinea
Tournaments
 < 2013
2021 > 

The 2017 Rugby League World Cup will be the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup. It will be held in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.[1] between 26 October and 2 December 2017. Michael Brown, the CEO of several big name Australian sporting franchises and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, has been appointed CEO of the 2017 World Cup.[2]

It will be the main event of the year's Festival of World Cups.

Host selection

At the 2010 Rugby League International Federation executive meeting, the New Zealand Rugby League made an early submission to co-host the 2017 tournament with Australia.[3] The Rugby League World Cup was last held in Australia in 2008.[4]

Two formal bids were subsequently received by the RLIF before a November 2012 deadline; the co-host bid from Australia and New Zealand and a bid from South Africa.[5][6][7] On 19 February 2014, it was announced that the joint bid from Australia and New Zealand had won hosting rights.[8]

Qualification

It was announced on August 3 2014 that 7 of the 8 quarter-finalists from the last World Cup will qualify automatically for the 2017 tournament; hosts Australia and New Zealand, England, Fiji, France, Samoa and Scotland. The USA, who were also 2013 quarter-finalists, were denied automatic qualification after a long-running internal governance dispute saw their RLIF membership temporarily suspended in 2014; they were later accepted to take part in the qualification process once the matter was resolved. Papua New Guinea were initially set to be involved in the qualifying competition but due to becoming co-hosts of the tournament they have automatically qualified. In addition to the seven automatic qualifiers, the remaining seven spots will come from four different qualification zones; three from Europe, one from Asia/Pacific, one from Americas and one from Middle East/Africa.[9]

Tonga were the first team to qualify from the qualification stage after winning the Asia-Pacific play-off.[10] Lebanon were the second team to qualify from the qualification stage after winning the Middle East-Africa play-off.[11] The USA were the third team to qualify, winning the Americas qualifying group.

Teams

Country Qualified as Qualification date Previous appearances in tournament Continent
 Australia Co-hosts 19 February 2014 14 (1954, 1957, 1960, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1985-88, 1989-92, 1995, 2000, 2008, 2013) Oceania
 England 2013 Semi Finalists 5 August 2014 5* (1975, 1995, 2000, 2008, 2013) *9 appearances as Great Britain Europe
 Fiji 2013 Semi Finalists 5 August 2014 4 (1995, 2000, 2008, 2013) Oceania
 France 2013 Quarter Finalists 5 August 2014 14 (1954, 1957, 1960, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1985-88, 1989-92, 1995, 2000, 2008, 2013) Europe
 Lebanon Middle East-Africa play-off winner 31 October 2015 1 (2000) Asia
 New Zealand Co-hosts 19 February 2014 14 (1954, 1957, 1960, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1985-88, 1989-92, 1995, 2000, 2008, 2013) Oceania
 Papua New Guinea Co-hosts 8 October 2015 6 (1985-88, 1989-92, 1995, 2000, 2008, 2013) Oceania
 Samoa 2013 Quarter Finalists 5 August 2014 4 (1995, 2000, 2008, 2013) Oceania
 Scotland 2013 Quarter Finalists 5 August 2014 3 (2000, 2008, 2013) Europe
 Tonga Asia-Pacific play-off winner 17 October 2015 4 (1995, 2000, 2008, 2013) Oceania
 United States Americas qualifying group winner 12 December 2015 1 (2013) North America

Venues

It was announced in October 2014 that negotiations were being held for Papua New Guinea to host matches.[12] The Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League presented to the RLIF in September 2015, requesting to host three matches.[13] In October 2015 it was confirmed that Papua New Guinea would host 3 matches in the group stage.[14]

New Zealand Rugby League CEO Phil Holden has also mentioned the possibility of a game being played in either Fiji or Samoa.[15] Chief Executive Michael Brown later confirmed that Fiji would host two tournament matches, with the specific venues which will be used will be confirmed soon.[16]

Cities outside Australia's rugby league eastern stronghold such as Hobart, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Darwin have begun top-level negotiations to host 2017 World Cup games. Three World Cup games were allocated to Port Moresby in PNG, while 11 provinces in New Zealand have also expressed a desire for matches.[17]

Broadcasting

Country Broadcaster Broadcasting
Australia Seven Network[18] Every Match Live
New Zealand Sky Sport Every Match Live
Prime TV All New Zealand matches live, opening match live and all knockout stage matches live
England Sky Sports Every Match Live
BBC All England matches live and all knockout stage matches live

References

  1. ↑ "2017 Rugby League World Cup Overview". RUGBY LEAGUE PLANET. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  2. ↑ "Rugby League World Cup CEO announced". nrl.com. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  3. ↑ Kilgallon, Steve (1 August 2010). "NZ prepares bid to co-host 2017 World Cup". The Sunday Star-Times. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  4. ↑ "Australia, NZ to host 2017 World Cup". nrl.com. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  5. ↑ "South Africa to face joint bid from Australia and New Zealand to host 2017 Rugby League World Cup". insidethegames.biz. 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  6. ↑ Australia-NZ Rugby League World Cup bid progresses 3News, 21 October 2013
  7. ↑ "South Africa's shock bid to host World Cup". dailytelegraph.com.au. 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2015-07-06.
  8. ↑ "Australia and New Zealand unite to stage RLWC2017". rlif.com. 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  9. ↑ "Qualification details for 2017". The RFL. 3 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "Tonga qualify for 2017 World Cup". NRL.com. 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "Lebanon qualify for 2017 Rugby League World Cup". asiapacificrl.com. 1 November 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  12. ↑ "Papua New Guinea may host 2017 rugby league world cup matches". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2014-10-11. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  13. ↑ PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill keen to host Rugby League World Cup matches smh.com.au, 27 September 2015
  14. ↑ "Papua New Guinea to co-host Rugby League World Cup in 2017". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Australian Associated Press. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "2017 Rugby League World Cup Overview". RUGBY LEAGUE PLANET. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  16. ↑ "Fiji offered two games at 2017 Rugby League World Cup". stuff.co.nz. 2015-12-28. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
  17. ↑ "Rugby League World Cup to be held across Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea". Fox Sports. 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
  18. ↑ Eoin Connolly (8 April 2016). "Channel Seven wins Rugby League World Cup TV rights". Sportspromedia.com. Retrieved 9 April 2016.

External links

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