2023 Rugby World Cup qualifying
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 6 March 2021 – November 2022 |
| No. of nations | 34 |
← 2019 → | |
The qualification process for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France began during the pool stages of the 2019 tournament in Japan, at which the top three teams from each of the four pools qualified automatically for the 2023 event. A further eight teams will qualify through regional, cross-regional play-offs and the repechage process.[1]
Qualified teams[]
| Africa | Americas | Europe | Asia | Oceania | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatically Qualified |
|
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| Qualified via regional tournament |
|
|
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| Qualified via cross-regional play-off |  Tonga or  Hong Kong or  Malaysia or  South Korea
| ||||
| Qualified via play-off or repechage |
Final Qualification winner | ||||
Qualification process[]
Following confirmation of the twelve automatically qualified teams from the 2019 Rugby World Cup, World Rugby announced the qualification format for the eight remaining places on 8 June 2020. Of the eight berths remaining, six are to be decided in regional tournaments, one by a cross-regional playoff and the last one via a final qualification tournament.
Final details of the regional competition formats and dates will be announced in due course.
Africa[]
Rugby Africa has been granted one place at the world cup, which will be awarded to the winners of the (Africa 1). The runner-up (Africa 2) will advance to the Final Qualification Tournament as Africa 2.
Americas[]
The Americas has been awarded two qualifying berths, decided by several play-off matches across both North America and South America. Americas 1 will be awarded to the winner of round 3; where North America 1 (the winner of a United States-Canada play-off series) v South America 1 (the winner of SAR 3 Nations Championship) will play-off each other with the winner on aggregate qualifying for the World Cup.
Americas 2 will be the winners on aggregate in a final play-off series between the runners-up of round 3 and the winners of a play-off series between North America 2 and South Americas 2. The loser of the final play-off series progressing to the Final Qualification Tournament as Americas 3.
Asia[]
Asia Rugby, with its top-ranked team automatically qualified already, did not get another direct qualifying place. However, the (later delayed to 2022) winner (Asia 1) will have the chance to qualify via a cross-regional play-off against Oceania 2.
Europe[]
Rugby Europe, having six teams automatically qualified, gained a further two more world cup berths, which will be awarded to the winners and runners-up of a combined 2021–2022 Rugby Europe Championship (Europe 1 and Europe 2). The third-placed team advances to the Final Qualification Tournament as Europe 3.
Oceania[]
Oceania Rugby was granted one direct qualification berth, and was awarded to the winner on aggregate of a Samoa–Tonga home and away play-off (Oceania 1). The loser would then progress to a straight play-off match against the winner of the 2021 Oceania Rugby Cup to advance as Oceania 2 to a cross-regional play-off against Asia 1.
Play-off and Final Qualification Tournament[]
Following the regional tournaments, the next qualification stage will be an Asia/Pacific home and away play-off between Asia 1 and Oceania 2, with the winner on aggregate qualifying for the 2023 Rugby World Cup (Asia/Pacific 1). The loser will advance to the Final Qualification Tournament as Asia/Pacific 2.
The final stage of the qualification process will conclude in November 2022 with a four teamed round-robin format Final Qualification Tournament. The four teams will be:
- Africa 2
- Americas 3
- Europe 3
- Asia/Pacific 2
The winner of the Final Qualification Tournament will complete the 8 additional qualifiers to make up the 20-team World Cup.
References[]
- ^ rugbybworldcup.com. "QUALIFICATION PROCESS SET FOR RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023".
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Qualification for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. |
- 2023 Rugby World Cup qualification