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London has emerged as a “strong possibility” to host the inaugural finals of the new Nations Championship in 2026 after a lucrative offer from Qatar was turned down.
World Rugby’s flagship competition is set to launch on a biennial basis and feature the top 12 teams in the world, with Fiji and Japan likely to join the representatives from the Six Nations (England, Ireland, France, Wales, Scotland and Italy) and Rugby Championship (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina).
Taking place in the years in which there is no World Cup or British and Irish Lions tour, the 12 nations will be split into a European Conference and Rest of the World Conference, with each team playing the six entrants in the opposite conference across the July and November Test windows. A grand final will be played at the end of November to determine the overall champion.
Qatar had appeared likely to win hosting rights for the final and other placing matches after an offer reported to be worth £800m, particularly with Sanzaar, which operates the Rugby Championship, giving strong backing to a deal that would have brought a significant and much-needed financial windfall.
However the bid met opposition from the Six Nations and its constituent unions, with Bill Sweeney, chief executive of England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU), revealing that the event is now likely to be held in Europe.
“The unsolicited bid from Qatar came in quite a long time ago,” Sweeney explained. “Both Six Nations and Sanzaar took a long time to evaluate it. There were certain aspects of it that we were concerned with.
“For the inaugural final weekends of a tournament that we think has got huge potential to grow value and fan interest going forward, [we thought] perhaps it should be in a more accessible environment, and maybe in an area where there is an established rugby market. That was a conversation. It doesn’t preclude going to another foreign destination at another time, whether that is in 2028, or the United States in 2030 the year before the World Cup.
“I think the decisions were all taken for the right reasons. There is still the commitment there for the Nations Cup. It was more about, ‘what do we think is the right destination for the inaugural finals weekend?’”
The new competition will radically reshape the international game, with traditional tours largely abandoned. The format has been criticised for ring-fencing an elite dozen nations from the rest of the rugby world, though a second division of 12 further teams will run concurrently with promotion and relegation commencing from 2030.
Sweeney expressed hope that confirmation of hosts and more details on the schedule will be released before the end of the year as rugby chiefs look to maximise possible revenue from global television rights deals.
London would be an attractive option as a host given the arrray of large stadiums within the city, including the re-titled Allianz Stadium in Twickenham.
“We’ve talked about having it here,” Sweeney confirmed. “Plan B, and potentially a fallback, is having it in London. You could have three matches here [at Allianz Stadium], two matches somewhere else and a match somewhere else in London.
“That would be a natural destination. Conversations are happening and have been ongoing since the Qatar decision to do that. There are other possibilities of other European venues, but London is a strong possibility.”
