World Rugby has announced plans for a major overhaul of the international calendar which includes a new 24-team tournament and an expansion of the Rugby World Cup.
The latter will take effect from the next edition of the tournament in 2027, with 24 teams set to qualify for the competition in Australia, whereas 20 teams competed in the ongoing World Cup in France.
The expansion will mean that the 2027 Rugby World Cup onwards will include a last-16 stage, instead of going straight to the quarter-finals from the pools, while it will last six weeks instead of seven.
It has also been announced that the draw for that tournament will happen in January 2026, the year before it takes place.
There has been significant criticism of the fact that the draw for this year's World Cup was made three years before the tournament, leading to a situation where the world's top-five ranked teams when the competition began were all on the same side of the draw.
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The newly-created competition, which is as-yet unnamed, will replace the current summer and autumn international windows and will be played in July and November of alternate years, excluding those with a World Cup or British and Irish Lions tour scheduled.
Like the World Cup, the tournament will consist of 24 teams, although they will be split into two divisions of 12 teams and will incorporate promotion and relegation from 2030.
The top division will include all of the teams from the Six Nations and Rugby Championship - England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa - as well as two unnamed others, expected to be Fiji and Japan.
Each country would play at least six matches in the new tournament, with a Grand Final at the end of November to determine an overall winner of the top league.
"It is fitting that we finish Rugby World Cup 2023, the sport's greatest celebration of togetherness, with the sport's greatest feat of togetherness," read a statement from World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont.
The World Rugby Council has approved transformational reform of the global men's and women's rugby calendars
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) October 24, 2023
Including the first-ever dedicated women's and men's calendars from 2026 and expansion of Rugby World Cup to 24 teams in 2027
To find out more: https://t.co/iQln1BcIid
"Agreement on the men's and women's global calendars and their content is the most significant development in the sport since the game went professional. An historic moment for our sport that sets us up collectively for success.
"We now look forward to an exciting new era for our sport commencing in 2026. An era that will bring certainty and opportunity for all. An era that will support the many, not the few, and an era that will supercharge the development of the sport beyond its traditional and often self-imposed boundaries.
"I would like to thank all my colleagues for their spirit of collaboration. Today, we have achieved something special."
The 2023 Rugby World Cup final takes place on Saturday, with New Zealand taking on rivals South Africa at the Stade de France as both teams look to become the first nation to lift the trophy four times.
Barney Corkhill
