Rugby World Cup 2025 to expand to 16 teams
World Rugby has confirmed that the women’s edition of the Rugby World Cup will expand to 16 teams from 2025 onwards.
The decision was decided by the Rugby World Cup Board earlier this year, reflects World Rugby’s commitment to accelerating development of the women’s game globally through its transformational women’s strategic plan 2017-25.
The 2021 Rugby World Cup will be held in New Zealand where 12 teams will be competing. England have been drawn in Pool C with France, South Africa and Fiji in what is the first women's Rugby World Cup to be held in the southern hemisphere.
With women’s rugby interest and participation growing this decision is part of a plan to increase the global competitiveness of women’s international rugby, providing the opportunity for more teams to be more competitive on the biggest stages - women and girls now account for 28% of the global playing population.
The process for bidding for the 2025 and 2029 editions of the Rugby World Cup will begin in February 2021 with confirmation of who will be awarded the rights to host coming at the same time as the men’s bids in May 2022.
“Women’s rugby is the single greatest opportunity to grow the sport globally," said World Rugby chairman and former England Men's captain Sir Bill Beaumont.
"In 2017 we set out an ambitious eight-year plan to accelerate the development of women in rugby, with a core pillar focusing on high-performance competition and an ambition to improve and expand the number of teams competing in pinnacle events. We have seen in recent years that more teams are making a statement at international level and unions are continuing to develop their women’s high-performance programmes.
“This is a milestone moment for the women’s game, expansion of the Rugby World Cup opens additional aspirational and inspirational playing pathway opportunities for unions at the highest level of the game and creates added incentive for unions worldwide to continue to invest and grow in their women’s programmes.”
