Rugby World Cup 2027 and 2031 hosts to be announced in May 2022
The Rugby World Cup 2027 and 2031 hosts will be unveiled in May 2022, when those for the 2025 and 2029 women’s tournaments will also be decided.
The hosting rights for the 2027 and 2031 men’s Rugby World Cups will be awarded at the same time after a new set of rules governing the holding of major tournaments were announced last week.
The hosts will be unveiled in May 2022, when those for the 2025 and 2029 women’s tournaments will also be decided, World Rugby said in a statement issued to the press.
Rugby World Cup 2027 and 2031 hosts announced together
“In a ground-breaking move, World Rugby will award hosting rights to its next two men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups within the same process,” the body said.
The bid process will begin in February 2021 and World Rugby is expecting “strong hosting interest” with Australia considered favourites to win the 2027 bid.
The more compact timetable for countries bidding to host the World Cup is partly due to the impact of the ongoing global pandemic.
Will South Africa bid for a future Rugby World Cup?
South Africa controversially lost out on hosting the 2023 World Cup but after the Springboks triumph in 2019 SA Rugby President Mark Alexander said that they would consider submitting a bid.
The 2019 World Cup in Japan generated more than 4.3 billion pounds ($5.6 billion, 4.75 billion euros) in economic activity according to numbers presented by World Rugby.
The most exciting RWC tournament ever also attracted the largest domestic broadcast audience for a rugby match garnering more than 54 million viewers.
Australia favoured for 2027
Current favourites to clinch the 2027 hosting rights, Australia feel the tournament should return to the Southern Hemispehere after what will be a sixteen year gap.
Welcoming the announcement of the selection process, Rugby Australia Chairman Hamish McLennan said: “With France set to host the next World Cup in 2023 and following previous editions in the United Kingdom and Japan in 2015 and 2019 respectively, we firmly believe that the World Cup in 2027 has to be in the southern hemisphere.”
2031 open to a diverse cast of bidders
It has been suggested that the 2031 tournament may attract bids from the likes of Argentina or the United States while Russia have announced their intent to bid for the 2027 event.
World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont suggested in late 2018 that the host of the World Cup following the 2023 event in France could be an emerging nation, but that may go out of the window if Australia presents a strong bid.