2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying
Fourteen teams will participate in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. In August 2014 it was announced that seven teams had been granted automatic qualification, with four regional qualification tournaments selecting the remaining seven teams.[1] Qualification will begin on 9 May 2015 when Spain will play Latvia in a knock-out match. The European Group B competition began on 17 May 2014.
Qualified teams
Seven teams automatically qualified for the World Cup. All of the seven teams had reached the quarter-finals of the 2013 World Cup.[2]
Australia (automatic qualifier and co-host)
New Zealand (automatic qualifier and co-host)
England (automatic qualifier)
Fiji (automatic qualifier)
France (automatic qualifier)
Samoa (automatic qualifier)
Scotland (automatic qualifier)
Regional qualifiers
Europe
Three teams will qualify from this region. A two-group, round-robin tournament will take place in autumn 2016 to determine the qualifying nations - this will be contested by the winners of the European C tournament, the top three teams from the European B tournament, and seeded nations Wales and Ireland.[3]
The first qualifying match will be between Spain and Latvia on 9 May 2015. The losing side will be eliminated and the winning side will join the European C tournament.[4]
Preliminary knockout match
European C
The winners of the European C tournament will advance to the final qualifying tournament.
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Greece | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Malta | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Spain /  Latvia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Fixtures
European B
The top three teams from the 2014/2015 European B tournament will advance to the final qualifying tournament.
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Serbia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 91 | 40 | 51 | 4 |
 Russia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 62 | 46 | 16 | 4 |
 Italy | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 82 | 75 | 7 | 4 |
 Ukraine | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 44 | 118 | -74 | 0 |
Qualifying tournament
The final qualification tournament will consist of 6 teams - the top three teams from the European B tournament, the winners of the European C tournament and seeded nations Wales and Ireland. The tournament will feature two groups of three teams playing in a single round-robin format. The winners of each group will qualify for the World Cup, while the runners-up will face each other in a play-off match on 5 November 2016 to determine the final spot. A seeded draw will take place to determine the groups on 5 November 2015.
Qualifying play-off
| 5 November 2016 |
| Group 1 runner-up | v | Group 2 runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Goals: |
Tries: Goals: |
Asia-Pacific
Two teams will qualify from this region.
Americas
One team will qualify from this region.
Middle East/Africa
One team will qualify from this region. A single knockout match will be held between Lebanon and South Africa to determine the qualifier.[5]
Qualifying play-off
References
- ↑ QUALIFICATION DETAILS FOR 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP ANNOUN, rlef.eu.com, 3 August 2014
- ↑ Scotland qualify for 2017 World Cup after RLIF announce seven automatic places for quarter-finalists from 2013 World Cup dailymail.co.uk, 3 August 2014
- ↑ "European Qualifiers for World Cup 2017 Announced". Rugby League International Federation. 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
- ↑ "Road to World Cup 2017 starts in Riga". Rugby League International Federation. 2015-04-12. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
- ↑ "Dubai to host RLWC2017 Qualifier". Rugby League International Federation. 2015-04-19. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||