Taking place across England, the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup will be the largest and most accessible celebration of women’s rugby ever.
Sunderland’s Stadium of Light will host the opening match on August 22, while Twickenham will host the final on September 27.
The 10th edition of the tournament will feature the world’s 16 best teams – an increase from the 12 countries that took part in the last World Cup in New Zealand.
The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup is already being billed as a ‘generational moment’ for the sport and there are hopes the tournament can generate similar interest in the Lionesses’ transformative European Championship victory in 2022.
Which teams will participate in the 2025 Women’s World Cup?
England qualify as a host; Canada, France And New Zealandby reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2022; South Africaby winning the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup; Irelandafter finishing third in the 2024 Women’s Six Nations; USAbeating Australia in the Pacific Four series; Fijiwho won the Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship; Japan who finished top of the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship; And Brazil who defeated Colombia and won the Sudamerica play-off.
The final six teams were determined during the 2024 edition of WXV, the three-tiered global competition. Australia won WXV2 to reserve their seat Scotland, Italy And Wales also qualified through that tournament. Spain And Samoa have ensured they will compete in next year’s World Cup by finishing first and second respectively in WXV3.
When is the draw?
The draw for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup will take place on Thursday, October 17. The draw will be broadcast live on The One Show on BBC One from 7pm.
The competition schedule will be announced on October 22.
The tournament consists of a group stage, with four groups of four. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockouts: quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals.
The four highest ranked teams at the time of the draw will be divided among the four groups. During the draw, the teams ranked 5 to 8 are allocated, then the teams ranked 9 to 12 and then the teams ranked 13 to 16.
Which cities are organizing the tournament?
Eight cities in England will host the tournament. In a measure of the Rugby Football Union’s ambition to spread the game across the country, York, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter and Northampton will all host matches.
Four of the venues are already home to England rugby teams, including Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate, Northampton Saints’ Franklin’s Gardens, Exeter Chiefs’ Sandy Park and Sale Sharks at Salford Community Stadium (commonly known as AJ Bell Stadium).
After opening their World Cup campaign in Sunderland, the Red Roses will play their remaining two pool matches at Northampton and Brighton.
Ashton Gate will share the quarter-finals with Exeter’s Sandy Park, which hosted the Premiership Women’s Rugby final last week.
When can I watch the Red Roses next?
After beating France 38-19 at Kingsholm and New Zealand 24-12 at Twickenham, England headed to Canada for the WXV1 tournament. They defeated the United States, defeated New Zealand and then fought back to beat Canada in their final match to win the tournament again.
They will next play at home in the 2025 Women’s Six Nations, which includes a match against France at Twickenham at the end of April.
World Cup tickets: prices and how to get them
More than 400,000 tickets are available for the tournament. Ticket prices range from £5 to £95, with more than 60 percent of tickets under £25. By the end of the pre-sale period on October 8, more than 60,000 tickets had been sold via the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 website for England’s opening match and the final.
The next ticket purchasing option is reserved for those with a Mastercard debit or credit card; they will have a 48-hour priority sales period from October 22, 11 a.m. to October 24, 11 a.m. General sales open again on November 5 and close on November 19.
Children’s tickets for the England tournament opener were available for just £5, while a family of four could pay £30.
Top tickets for the final at Twickenham, which the Rugby Football Union hopes to sell out, cost £95, while cheaper options are available for adults from £30.
How can I watch the World Cup?
BBC Sport will broadcast exclusive coverage of the tournament across linear channels, with every match also available to watch live on BBC iPlayer and the Sport website and app.
Live audio commentary will be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra.
Fans can listen to 5 Live coverage on BBC Sounds, DAB radio and the BBC Sport website.
The exclusive coverage deal means there will also be content on BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland.
Previous winners
2022 – New Zealand (rescheduled from 2021 due to the Covid pandemic)
2017 – New Zealand
2014 – England
2010 – New Zealand
2006 – New Zealand
2002 – New Zealand
1998 – New Zealand
1994 – England
1991 – USA
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