Women’s Rugby World Cup To Expand To 16 Teams
The women’s edition of the Rugby World Cup will be expanded from 12 to 16 teams from 2025 onwards.
World Rugby has confirmed the change, taken by the Rugby World Cup Board, and says the move reflects its commitment to accelerating development of the women’s game.
“Women’s rugby is the single greatest opportunity to grow the sport globally,” said Sir Bill Beaumont, Chairman, World Rugby.
“In 2017 we set out an ambitious eight-year plan to accelerate the development of women in rugby, with a core pillar focussing 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.”
According to World Rugby, the growth in the women’s game now sees female participation at underage and grassroots levels account for 28% of the global playing population.
The governing body has recently dropped the phrase ‘women’s’ from the World Cup competitions in 2025 and 2029. As part of a new structure to its formal bidding process, World Rugby will also award host status for both women’s tournaments at the same time as it announces hosts for the 2027 and 2031 men’s competition in May 2022.
