2023 Rugby World Cup qualifying
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]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 6 March 2021 – November 2022 |
| No. of nations | 34 |
← 2019 2027 → | |
Qualified teams
| Africa | Americas | Europe | Asia | Oceania | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatically Qualified as a result of RWC2019 placing |
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| Qualified via regional tournament |
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| Qualified via Asia/Pacific play-off |  Tonga or  Malaysia or  South Korea (Asia/Pacific 1) | ||||
| Qualified via Final Qualification Tournament | Final Qualification winner | ||||
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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 2022 Africa Cup (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 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 will progress 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 2021 Asia Rugby Championship (later delayed to 2022) winner (Asia 1) will have the chance to qualify via a cross-regional play-off against Oceania 2 (Tonga).
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, Tonga, then progressed to a straight play-off match against the deemed winner of the 2021 Oceania Rugby Cup (Cook Islands), which Tonga won 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 a single-leg qualification match between Asia 1 and Oceania 2, with the winner 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 (1 of 8 teams)
- Americas 3 (USA or Chile)
- Europe 3 (Portugal)
- Asia/Pacific 2 (Tonga, Malaysia, South Korea or Hong Kong)
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".
