The Rugby League World Cup kicks off this Saturday as the hosts England face Samoa in the men’s tournament.
The 2021 tournament, delayed due to the pandemic, will see the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments carried out parallel to each other for the first time.
The men’s tournament sees back-to-back champions Australia enter as the favourites with New Zealand, England, Samoa and Tonga also looking strong in the chasing pack.
Australia and New Zealand go in as the two clear favourites for the women’s tournament having won the previous five World Cups between them.
For the wheelchair world cup, two-time winners France are the team to beat, but a strong England side will be looking to avenge their defeats in the 2013 and 2017 finals.
How it works
For the men’s tournament, 16 teams have been divided into four groups with the top two sides of each progressing through to the quarter-finals.
The women’s and wheelchair world cups will feature eight teams competing in two groups with the top two sides from each group going straight into the semi-finals.
The knockout stages begin on 4th November with the first quarter-final of the men’s competition, with the semi-finals taking place the following week.
The women’s and wheelchair draw sees both tournaments kick off the knockout stages with double-header fixtures on the 14th and 15th November respectively.
The tournament wraps up after five weeks of action on Saturday 19th November as the men’s and women’s finals will close out the tournament with a double-header.
Grounds
Across the three tournaments 21 stadiums will be used, most of which feature in the north of England.
St James’ Park is one of England’s most prestigious stadiums, with a capacity of 52,000, will host the tournament’s opening fixture.
The double-header final will be held at Old Trafford in Manchester in what is expected to be a sell-out.
Tickets
Tickets for every fixture are available through the official Rugby League World Cup site.
Ticket prices range from £20 to £110 for adults with children and students getting discounts.
How to watch
All 61 games of the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments will be shown on free-to-air television in the UK on BBC and BBC iPlayer.
For more of our Rugby League World Cup 2021 content, click here.
Feature image credit: Marc via Flickr under CC BY-NC 2.0
