The 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the 11th edition of the

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

, the quadrennial world championship for men's

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

teams. It is scheduled to take place in Australia from 1 October to 13 November 2027. It will be the first tournament to be branded as the Men's Rugby World Cup, a change that was announced in October 2023 to promote

gender parity Gender parity is a statistical measure used to describe ratios between men and women, or boys and girls, in a given population. Gender parity may refer to the proportionate representation of men and women in a given group, also referred to as Huma ...

. It will also be the first to host 24 teams. The defending champions are

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, who beat

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in the 2023 final.

Host selection and bidding

World Rugby was hoping to award the bids for both the 2027 and 2031 men's World Cups (along with the bids for the 2025 and 2029 Women's World Cups) by May 2022. The process of talking to prospective nations began in February 2021 with the formal candidate process commencing three months later. Finalists were evaluated in February 2022. By June 2019, Argentina, Australia and Russia had declared their interest in hosting the 2027 Rugby World Cup, but Argentina withdrew their bid in April 2020, leaving two bidders. There was speculation that the United States and South Africa would be interested in hosting the event, but the

South African Rugby Union The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board ...

has stated that it would not be bidding for the 2027 World Cup.

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

chairman

Bill Beaumont Sir William Blackledge Beaumont (born 9 March 1952) is an English former rugby union player, and was captain of the England rugby union team, earning 34 caps. His greatest moment as captain was the unexpected 1980 Grand Slam win. He played as a ...

suggested in late 2018 that the host of the

following the

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

event in France could be an emerging nation. World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper also suggested in 2019 that World Rugby may bid the 2027 and 2031 World Cups together (as they did with England 2015 and Japan 2019), so that they could make "a bolder decision and a traditional decision." The hosts for the 2027 and 2031 tournaments were to be revealed in May 2022. The fact that three consecutive World Cups (

England 2015 The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

, Japan 2019, and France 2023) occurred in the Northern Hemisphere made the Southern Hemisphere countries considered the favourites. On 12 May 2022, it was announced that Australia would host the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Announced bidders

Australia

Rugby Australia Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It is a ...

announced on 13 December 2017 that Australia would bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Australia has previously hosted the inaugural

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 mat ...

together with New Zealand, as well as the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

on its own.

Withdrawn bids

Argentina

Argentina had announced on 5 October 2016 that it would bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, but withdrew its bid in April 2020. Argentina has never hosted the tournament before, and World Rugby chairman

had pledged that he would back the right of countries such as Argentina to bid for the event. Argentina is the only country to reach the World Cup semi-finals that has not hosted any World Cup matches. In April 2020, Argentina withdrew its bid to strengthen the Australian bid, making Australia favourites for the 2027 Rugby World Cup host.

Russia

Stanislav Druzhinin of the Russian Rugby Union said at a meeting on 31 May 2019 that Russia would apply to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Russia would use the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

stadiums and legacy for the 2027 Rugby World Cup. President Vladimir Putin backed Russia's bid to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Rugby Union of Russia could not proceed with its bid to host after

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

(CAS) imposed a two-year ban on 17 December 2020 on Russia hosting any major sports tournament.

Expansion

Talks of expanding the tournament to 24 teams intensified after the performances of emerging nations like

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

at the

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup () was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game ...

, and on 4 October 2023, it was reported that

had decided to expand the World Cup to 24 teams in order to help grow the sport. A "Swiss model" pool stage similar to those adopted by the

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pr ...

and football's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, or six pools of four with an additional round of 16 were under consideration. The expansion to 24 teams was confirmed on 24 October 2023.

Format

To accommodate the expansion from a 20-team finals tournament to 24 teams, the format was changed from the one used in 2023 with the addition of two extra groups in the group stage, and an extra round in the knockout phase.

Draw

In May 2025, World Rugby confirmed that the draw will take place in December 2025.

Development and preparations

The tournament will be the first branded as the Men's Rugby World Cup, a change that was announced in October 2023. All previous editions were branded as simply the Rugby World Cup, with the

Women's tournament A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

branded as the Women's Rugby World Cup between 1991—2017 and without a gender designation in the 2021 tournament.

Host cities

Seven venues in seven cities are proposed venues for the tournament. The opening match, as well as the opening ceremony, will be at

Perth Stadium Perth Stadium, commercially known as Optus Stadium due to sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the Burswood, Western Australia, Burswood suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It was completed during late 2017 and officially opened ...

, while the final (including both semi-finals and the bronze final) will be played at

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. In early January 2025, it was reported that no matches would take place in the state of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, after the Victorian state government pulled its bid in protest of Rugby Australia's revocation of

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels were an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria that competed in the Super Rugby competition. The Rebels made their debut in SANZAAR, SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. T ...

' participation in

Super Rugby Pacific Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. The full list of host cities was confirmed later in January when it was confirmed that the state of Victoria would host games in Melbourne in an yet to be determined venue. ^a Stadium/site used in

. These host cities will host the following matches; *

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

** Five pool matches *

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

** Six pool, two round-of-16 matches, and two quarter-finals *

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

** Seven pool and, two round-of-16 matches *

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

** Four pool matches *

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

** Opening ceremony, five pool and, two round-of-16 matches *

, New South Wales ** Five pool, two round-of-16 matches, two quarter-finals, two semi-finals, bronze final, and final *

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

, Queensland ** Four pool matches

Teams

Qualification

A total of 12 teams gained automatic qualification for the tournament by finishing in the top three of their pool at the

, these positions being determined at the close of the pool stage. The qualification process for the tournament was confirmed by World Rugby on 13 August 2024. Four teams have qualified from Europe. Three will qualify from the Pacific, one each from Africa, Asia and South America, one from a South America/Pacific play-off, and one from a four-team repechage tournament.

Marketing

Sponsorship

References

External links

Official website

Australia 2027 bid website
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup 2027 in rugby union

2027 Predicted and scheduled events * May – The 2027 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled; the location is typically determined by the previous year's winner. * May 15– August 15 – Expo 2027 is scheduled to be held in Belgrade, Serbia. * ...

World Cup 2027

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

2027 in Australian rugby union