The Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup is an international

wheelchair rugby league Wheelchair rugby league is a wheelchair-based version of rugby league football, one of two recognised disability versions of the sport. It was developed by French rugby league player, coach and official, Wally Salvan in 2004. Unlike other wheelch ...

tournament contested by the top national teams. The tournament was first held in 2008 as part of the

Festival of World Cups The Festival of World Cups is a collection of Rugby League World Cups usually held as a support series alongside the centrepiece Men's, Women's, and Wheelchair tournaments. First held in 2008, the festival includes events such as police, armed ...

held in Australia. The first winners were

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

who then hosted the tournament in 2013 and lost to France in the final. At the 2017 tournament the title was retained by France who were also the host nation. The 2021 tournament was held in November 2022 as part of the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

with eight teams taking part. It was hosted by England who also won the tournament.

History

The inaugural tournament took place as part of the

2008 Festival of World Cups The Festival of World Cups was a series of rugby league World Cups held in Australia during 2008. The Festival was being staged in Australia during 2008 to coincide with their Centenary of Rugby League celebrations. The centrepiece of the Festiv ...

and was held in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. The four teams participating were Australia, England, France and a Barbarians V Pacific Islands team. The fourth team were a replacement for New Zealand who withdrew before the start of the competition. England were the first winners, defeating hosts Australia 44–12 in the final. In 2013 the tournament was held in Gillingham, England. The six teams that took part were Australia, England, France,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. France won the competition, defeating England 42–40 in the final. Wales won 16–12 against Australia in the third-place play-off and Ireland defeated Scotland 36–14 to finish fifth. France hosted the 2017 tournament and won 38–34 in the final against England to retain the title. Seven teams took part in the tournament with the semi-finalists from 2013 placed in Group A and Italy, Spain and Scotland in Group B. Australia, who had intended to host the tournament, finished third after defeating newcomers Italy 58–45. Spain, who were also making their first appearance at the world cup, lost 45–66 to Wales in the fifth-place play-off match. The 2021 tournament (played in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) saw the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

compete at the world cup for the first time. Norway, who were also due to make their debut, withdrew from the competition in February 2022. It was the first time that the wheelchair tournament was played simultaneously with the men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

competitions. The hosts England defeated France 28–24 in the final in front of a wheelchair rugby league world record crowd of 4,526 at Manchester Central.

Format

The tournament has been played using different formats depending on the number of teams participating. In 2013 the six teams were divided into two groups. Each team played the two teams in their group and one team from the other group. This determined the qualifiers for the semi-finals which were followed by the play-off matches and final. In 2017 the seven teams were also divided into two groups, but this time Group A contained the four top ranked teams and Group B was made up of the lower ranked teams. The top two from Group A qualified for the semi-finals and were joined by the winners of play-offs between the top two Group B teams and the remaining Group A sides. The 2021 tournament had two groups of four teams with the top two from each progressing to the semi-finals.

Trophy

In November 2019 a new trophy for the wheelchair tournament was unveiled. It shares a similar overall appearance to the men's and women's trophies and features imagery of wheelchair athletes in action.

Results

Tournaments

Participating teams

;Legend * = Champions * = Runners-up * or = Third place or semi-finalist * = Fourth place * G = Group stage * P = nation participating in Final Tournament not yet played * w = nation withdrew from (final) Tournament * – = nation did not enter competition. * = Hosts

Notes

References

{{Main world cups Wheelchair rugby league