# 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup qualification – Europe

The 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup European qualification tournament was an international rugby league tournament held in October 2024 to decide the nation that qualifies for the 2025 World Series and in-turn, potentially qualify for the 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup.

## Background

The tournament took place in October 2024 and was open to all full member nations as of 15 March 2024. The winner of the tournament advanced to the World Series in 2025.
On 14 March 2024, Ireland, Italy, and Scotland had their membership downgraded to affiliate members due to non-compliance with the membership policy, and as a result were no longer eligible to participate in the World Cup qualification process.

## Seeding and format

Teams played semi-finals and a final. The semi-finals were based on IRL Rank with highest-ranked playing lowest-ranked and second-highest playing second-lowest. The losing semi-finalists contested a third place playoff; this had no bearing on World Cup qualification, but did count for world ranking points.
The four eligible nations to compete in the tournament were confirmed to be participating on 25 July 2024; France, Serbia, Ukraine and Wales.
IRL Men's World Rankings – Europe :
| Rank | Full | Team | Pts % |
| 8 | Yes | France | 28 |
| 11 | Yes | Serbia | 19 |
| 12 | No | Netherlands | 17 |
| 13 | No | Italy | 15 |
| 14 | No | Greece | 15 |
| 15 | No | Malta | 14 |
| 16 | No | Ireland | 14 |
| 17 | Yes | Wales | 13 |
| 19 | No | Scotland | 9 |
| 20 | Yes | Ukraine | 7 |
| 21 | No | Czech Republic | 7 |
| 22 | No | Germany | 6 |
| 24 | No | Poland | 6 |
| 25 | No | Norway | 6 |
| 32 | No | Montenegro | 4 |
| 34 | No | Turkey | 3 |
| 35 | No | North Macedonia | 3 |
| 36 | No | Bulgaria | 3 |
| 38 | No | Spain | 2 |
| 40 | No | Albania | 1 |
| 45 | No | Russia | 0 |
| 46 | No | Sweden | 0 |
| 47 | No | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0 |
| 48 | No | Hungary | 0 |
| 53 | No | Latvia | 0 |
| 54 | No | Denmark | 0 |
| 55 | No | Belgium | 0 |
| 56 | No | Estonia | 0 |
| References: ||||

## Venues

The venues selected for the tournament were:
| Carcassonne | Saint-Estève |
| Stade Albert Domec | Stade Municipal |
| Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 6,000 |
| Saint-EstèveCarcassonne ||

## Squads

On 16 October 2024, the squads were announced for the four nations competing in the tournament.

### France

| Player | Club |
| Jayson Goffin | Albi |
| Nittim Pedrero | Albi |
| Romain Franco | Bradford Bulls |
| Lucas Albert | Carcassonne |
| Vincent Albert | Carcassonne |
| Clément Boyer | Carcassonne |
| Nolan Lopez-Buttignol | Carcassonne |
| Guillermo Aispuro Bichet | Catalans Dragons |
| Alrix Da Costa | Catalans Dragons |
| Théo Fages | Catalans Dragons |
| Matthieu Laguerre | Catalans Dragons |
| Clement Martin | Catalans Dragons |
| Arthur Mourgue | Catalans Dragons |
| Romain Navarrete | Catalans Dragons |
| Arthur Romano | Catalans Dragons |
| César Rougé | Catalans Dragons |
| Thomas Lacans | Featherstone Rovers |
| Louis Jouffret | Halifax Panthers |
| Hugo Salabio | Huddersfield Giants |
| Mickaël Goudemand | Leeds Rhinos |
| Justin Sangaré | Leeds Rhinos |
| Ugo Tison | London Broncos |
| Hakim Miloudi | Pia |
| Florian Vailhen | Pia |
| Lambert Belmas | Toulouse Olympique |
| Benjamin Laguerre | Toulouse Olympique |
| Anthony Marion | Toulouse Olympique |
| Éloi Pélissier | Toulouse Olympique |
| Maxime Stefani | Toulouse Olympique |
| Mathieu Cozza | Wakefield Trinity |
| Tiaki Chan | Wigan Warriors |

### Serbia

Nicholas O'Meley (Burleigh Bears), Nick Cotric (Catalans Dragons), Andrej Mora (Dorcol Tigers), David Nofoaluma, Sasha Popovic (Glebe Dirty Reds), Jake O’Meley (Lakes United Seagulls), Ilija Cotric (Mounties), Jesse Soric (NZ Warriors), Aleksandar Pavlovic, Djordje Krnjeta, Dzavid Jasari, Enis Bibic, Strahinja Stoiljkovic, (Partisan 1953), Jordan Grant (Penrith Panther), Stefan Arsic (Radnicki Nis), Marko Jankovic, Milos Calic, Nikola Djuric, Rajko Trifunovic, Vojislav Dedic, Vuk Strbac (Red Star), Joshua Coric (St George Illawarra).

### Ukraine

Tim Knight (Caloundra Sharks), Daniel Janissen (Cardiff Cobras), Jonah Ngaronoa (Glebe Dirty Reds), Yevhen Checheta, Yevhen Davydov, Anatolii Hrankovskyi, Volodymyr Karpenko, Vitalii Puchkov, Dmytro Semerenko, Oleksandr Shcherbyna, Oleksandr Skorbach, Oleksandr Syvykoz, Mykhailo Troian, Yevhenii Trusov, Volodymyr Voitov (Kharkiv Legion XIII), Valentyn Korchak, Ostap Kozak (Lviv Tigers), Victor Tereszko (Queanbeyan Blues), Danylo Vedler (Rivne Giants), Brock Jurkans (Singleton Greyhounds), Tigris Polata (Southern Suburbs Magpies), Tom Mencinsky (Sydney University RLFC).

### Wales

| Player | Club |
| Bailey Antrobus | York Knights |
| Harry Boots | Cornwall |
| Sam Bowring | Midlands Hurricanes |
| Mike Butt | Widnes Vikings |
| Max Clarke | Barrow Raiders |
| Joe Coope-Franklin | Salford Red Devils |
| Connor Davies | Halifax Panthers |
| Curtis Davies | Dewsbury Rams |
| Gil Dudson | Warrington Wolves |
| Will Evans | Whitehaven |
| Ben Evans | North Wales Crusaders |
| Jude Ferreira | Hunslet |
| Matty Fozard | Widnes Vikings |
| Charlie Glover | Salford Red Devils |
| Elliot Kear (C) | Batley Bulldogs |
| Ben Lane | St. Helens |
| Rhodri Lloyd | Widnes Vikings |
| Josh Ralph | St. George Illawarra Dragons Reserves |
| Owen Restall | Dewsbury Rams |
| Luis Roberts | Leeds Rhinos |
| Ashton Robinson | Leeds Rhinos |
| Matt Ross | Cornwall |
| Anthony Walker | Swinton Lions |
| Billy Walkley | Keighley Cougars |
| Rhys Williams | Swinton Lions |
| Huw Worthington | Whitehaven |

## Fixtures
### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| 8 | France | 74 | | | |
| 20 | Ukraine | 8 | | | |
| 20 | Ukraine | 8 | | France | 48 |
| | | | | Wales | 6 |
| 11 | Serbia | 0 | | Wales | 6 |
| 17 | Wales | 48 | Third-place playoff | Third-place playoff | Third-place playoff |
| | | | | Serbia | 50 |
| | | | | Ukraine | 10 |

### Semi-finals

* 22 October 2024 17:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)
| Serbia | 0–48 | Wales |
| | 1st: 0–30 2nd: 0–18 Report | Tries: Fozard, Kear, Walker, Evans, Connor Davies, Butt, Worthington, Coope-Franklin Goals: Fozard (7/7), Kear (1/1) |
* Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne Attendance: 1,257 Referee: Geoffrey Poumes (France)
Wales head coach, John Kear, did not travel to France with the squad, after being admitted to hospital the preceding weekend. In his absence the team was coached by assistant coach, Mark Moxon.
* 22 October 2024 19:30 CEST (UTC+02:00)
| France | 74–8 | Ukraine |
| Tries: Vailhe, Budde, Pedrero (3), Vailhen, Pelissier (2), Zenon, Goffin, Jouffret, Aispuro Bichett (2), Marti Goals: Albert (6/10), Aispuro Bichett (3/4) | 1st: 48–0 2nd: 26–8 Report | Tries: Skorbach, Polata |
* Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne Attendance: 1,257 Referee: Stephane Vincent (France)

### Third-place playoff

The third-place playoff formed part of the tournament but had no bearing on qualification.
* 26 October 2024 17:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)
| Ukraine | 10–50 | Serbia |
| Tries: Vedler, Skorbach Goals: Jannissen (0/1), Skorbach (1/1) | 1st: 0–22 2nd: 10–28 Report | Tries: Popovic, Pavlovic (2), N. Cotic (2), I. Cotric, Nofoaluma, Jankovic, O'Meley Goals: Soric (6/7), O'Meley (1/2) |
* Stade Municipal, Saint-Estève Referee: Mo Drizza (France)

### Final

* 26 October 2024 14:30 CEST (UTC+02:00)
| Wales | 6–48 | France |
| Tries: Williams Goals: Fozard (1/1) | 1st: 6–20 2nd: 0–28 Report | Tries: Romano, Rouge (2), Franco, Pelissier, Sangare, Fages, Belmas, Chan Goals: Rouge (6/9) |
* Stade Municipal, Saint-Estève Attendance: 2,150 Referee: Aaron Moore (England)