France will host the men’s European qualifying competition for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup, with the winners becoming the continent’s representative in the inaugural 2025 World Series to face Jamaica, South Africa and Cook Islands.

With qualification now open only to full members, the hosts will take on Serbia, Ukraine and Wales, with teams seeded according to their IRL World Ranking positions, which pits Serbia against Wales and France against Ukraine. Those matches will be played in Carcassonne on Tuesday 22 October.

Finals day will take place on Saturday 26 October in Perpignan between the two semi-final winners for the World Series place, with the semi-final losers also playing for world ranking points.

The World Series format will see all four nations play each other once, with the winners and runners up on the table taking the remaining two berths at the 2026 World Cup in Australia.

“Hosting the series of matches in October is a real opportunity for French Rugby League,” said French RL Federation president, Dominique Baloup.

“Wales to the west and Serbia and Ukraine to the east, whose situation is so appalling, will be the representatives of the many European nations who, with different levels of performance, are working, progressing and showing the progress of rugby league on the continent.

“The matches to be held in the Aude and Pyrénées Orientales regions, true Rugby League lands, will provide the teams involved with optimum playing conditions.”

France men’s head coach, Laurent Frayssinous added: “It’s with a real sense of excitement that we approach the European Cup. We know the value of our opponents that we’ll have to give our all in this competition if we’re to achieve our goals. This European tournament is a new opportunity for us to continue to progress and put French 13-a-side rugby back on the world stage.”

Serbia’s men played five internationals last year, with wins against Greece, Italy and Czechia and losses to France and Netherlands. Already they have beaten Montenegro in 2024 and looking to take on the Netherlands again in September in a warm up game for these clashes.

Serbia coach, Darren Fisher, noted: “We are extremely excited about the opportunity of the qualifiers, facing Wales initially will enable us to test our strengths. We’re grateful to France for hosting the games and for us it’s a great opportunity to be part of a major competition.”

Ukraine beat Greece twice last year in Athens and have had two successful showings at the U19s competition in 2022 and 2024, with players expected to graduate to the senior side.

“We’re proud of our recent performance in the U19s European Championship and we have had some good interest from players with Ukrainian heritage from across the globe who are interested in representing us,” said men’s head coach Dan Beardshaw.

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“Playing France is a huge opportunity and it’s something that Ukraine Rugby League has earned the right to do, in preparation we’ll be going into camp for a friendly match on the way to France. We’ll be using the tournament to continue the growth of Ukraine Rugby League.”

Wales men have not played since the last World Cup held in 2022, when they performed creditably in the toughest group against Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands.

“We’re excited by the challenge and opportunity that lies ahead of us in the Autumn,” Wales coach John Kear said.
“Whenever a Welshman pulls on that red jersey, they take their performance to another level and that’s what we’ll have to do to be successful in these fixtures.

“It was fantastic to see our Women’s team qualify for a first ever World Cup in June and our Wheelchair side already have their place, too. We’ll be doing everything we can to take one step closer to joining them.”