World Rugby has announced exciting and pioneering changes to the global rugby calendar, with the creation of a new bi-annual international competition for both men and women from 2026, and an expansion of teams in the Rugby World Cup.
The World Rugby Council met in France on Tuesday, to finalise and vote for the reform of international rugby.
The new biannual International Nations Championship, which is set to include 12 of the leading northern and southern hemisphere sides, will commence in 2026, along with a second division of 12 teams. There will be promotion and relegation between the two divisions from 2030.
“The sport is about to enter an exciting new era, an agreement on the men’s and women’s global calendars and their content is the most significant development in the sport since the game went professional.
“It’s a historic moment for our sport that sets us up collectively for success.
We now look forward to an exciting new era commencing in 2026.
An era that will bring certainty and opportunity for all,” said World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont in a statement.
The Six Nations unions of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, and Italy, including the SANZAAR nations of South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina will all form part of the new Nations Championship top division.
It will be played during the July and November international windows.
The remaining two places in the first division, previously reported as Fiji and Japan, will be decided by a process to be run by SANZAAR, while the planned second division will be run by World Rugby.
According to the statement, the tournament is designed to provide certainty of fixtures for unions outside of existing international competitions.
Meanwhile, World Rugby have also confirmed that the Rugby World Cup will be expanded from 20 teams to 24 at the global tournament in 2027.
This will allow more teams the opportunity to qualify for the tournament and will eliminate the long breaks in between fixtures that we experienced during the ongoing 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
In the same breath the women’s Rugby World cup will be expanded to 16 teams from 12 in 2025.
