World Rugby has announced the qualifying process for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, which is expanding from 20 teams to 24.
It was announced in October last year that four more teams would be added to the next World Cup, hosted by Australia.
Twelve teams have already qualified for the 2027 edition, based on their positions in pool play at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The top three teams from each pool were guaranteed qualification.
All of the teams from the Rugby Championship and Six Nations, plus Japan and Fiji have qualified.
The remaining 12 qualification spots were available from regional competitions, set to be played out in 2025.
The competition will feature six pools of four and an additional "round of 16" knockout match will be added before the quarter final stage. This means the All Blacks will have one less pool match to play compared to previous years.
The 2027 edition of the tournament has also been reduced from seven weeks to six, with World Rugby assuring the same minimum number of rest days allocated.
World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said the new qualification paths were an attempt to grow the game.
“We are fully committed to respecting the fundamental principle of expanded opportunity, and the blend of existing regional competitions, new cross-region competitions and a final qualification process reflects that ambition as well as the desire to deliver teams on merit,” said Beaumont.
The top four teams from the Rugby Europe Championship, as well as the top three teams from the Pacific Nations Cup (excluding Fiji and Japan), will all qualify for 2027.
The European Championship features the likes of Georgia, Portugal and Romania who all featured at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
However in Africa, Asia and South America, only the winner of their respective regional competitions will gain direct qualification.
A qualification playoff match between the last-placed team in the Pacific Nations Cup and the runner-up of the South American competition will decide another spot.
A new four-team qualification tournament set to be played in November 2025 to decide the final participant for the competition in 2027.
The nations featured in the tournament will be teams that just missed out on automatic qualification from their regional competitions.
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