The Rugby League Asian Cup was a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

football tournament for Asian nations that was held in 2012 and 2013. Both editions of the tournament featured the Philippines and Thailand playing each other once. It is run by the Asia-Pacific Rugby League Confederation and the Trophy itself was donated by the

RLIF The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. Previously known as the ''Rugby League Imperial Board'', the '' International Rugby League Board'' and latterly the ''Rugby League Internat ...

History

On October 21, 2012, the Philippines Tamaraws defeated the Thailand Stars to win the inaugural Rugby League Asian Cup. and on October 23, 2013, the Philippines again defeated Thailand at the second Asian Cup.

Trophy

On October 21, 2012, after beating Thailand in the Asian Cup final, Philippines captain Luke Srama was presented with the first Asian Cup trophy. Srama was also presented with a Friendship Cup as a good gesture between the two teams.

Format

The format of the inaugural Rugby League Asian Cup involved a one-off match held in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

between

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

to decide the champion of the tournament.

Future

It is expected in the future editions of the Asian Cup that the

Japan national rugby league team The Japan national rugby league team, nicknamed the Samurais, represents Japan in rugby league football. Japan have played some international competition since 1994. The Japanese National Cup, the JRL domestic club competition, was founded in 1 ...

and Singapore will compete in the tournament. It is also hoped that other Asian nations will compete in the future. Japan has planned hosting the tournament in 2014

Results

Asian Cup summaries

Successful national teams

The Philippines is the only nation to have won the Asian Cup. The following list, are all the teams that have competed in the Asian Cup tournament since its inception; the number of times they have appeared; their most recent appearance; consecutive appearances and their highest result:

Records and statistics

Overall Championships

''As of the 2013 edition''

Overall top 5 pointscorers

''As of the 2012 edition''

Asian Cup winning captains and coaches