UK Sport confirm England are in the race to host Rugby World Cup

World Rugby has made the decision to grant hosting rights for both the men's and women's tournaments with a two-year gap in between.

Following France's hosting of the men's Rugby World Cup in 2023, England will take the reins and stage the Women's Rugby World Cup in 2025.

Moving forward, Australia has secured the hosting rights for the men's tournament in 2027, followed by the women's event in 2029.

Breaking new ground, World Rugby has chosen the United States as the host for both the men's and women's tournaments in 2031 and 2033 respectively.

Now, let's take a closer look at the four countries currently contending to host the Rugby World Cup in 2035 and 2037

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has made an official announcement, formally putting forward Italy's candidacy to host Euro 2032, the prestigious European football championship.

This bid has also been backed by the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR), indicating a potential ripple effect for the nation's bid to host the Rugby World Cup.

With ten cities expressing their interest in hosting Euro 2032, including Milan, Turin, Verona, Genoa, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples, Bari, and Cagliari, Italy's bid boasts an impressive array of potential venues. Many of these cities are no strangers to Test match rugby, with some even holding records for the highest rugby attendance in the country. For instance, Milan saw a staggering 80,074 fans pack into the San Siro stadium for a Test match between the Italian national team, known as the Azzurri, and New Zealand in 2009.

As Italy vies for the opportunity to host Euro 2032, the support from the Italian Rugby Federation and the potential for stadium upgrades across the nation could also bolster their bid to host the Rugby World Cup in the future.

In the statement on the Italian union’s website they said: “The Italian Rugby Federation expresses its full support for the candidacy of the Italian Football Federation to host Euro2032 and wishes the best success to President (Gabriele) Gravina, the federal structure and all the stakeholders involved.

“The Italian rugby governing body intends to work in synergy with the FIGC and with all the stakeholders involved to ensure that the process of upgrading the stadiums identified in the dossier takes place taking into due consideration the needs of elite international rugby, an essential condition for be able to present, in the immediate future, an Italian candidacy for the 2035 (Men’s) and 2037 (Women’s) Rugby World Cup.”

Planet Rugby has reported that Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) chairman Kensuke Iwabuchi has also informed World Rugby that his country wants to host the Rugby World Cup as early as 2035.

The 2019 tournament was well-received by all the teams who visited Japan with facilities and infrastructure at a world-class level.

Iwabuchi ambitiously declared that he wants Japan to be the No 1 rugby union team in the world when they next host the Rugby World Cup.

“We’ve informed World Rugby that we want to do it then at the earliest (2035), and we will move forward looking at when the conditions allow us to actually host it,” he said.

UK Sport have announced plans to bid for part of the Tour de France in 2027, the World Athletics Championships in 2029 or 2031, and the Rugby World Cup in 2035 or 2039. However it confirmed it would also pursue events which it said would “resonate and align with evolving consumer habits” such as urban and e-sports.

“When we talk to cities about events, pretty near the top of the list are urban sports,” said Morton. “And e-sports is quite a broad church. At one end of the spectrum, you’ve got a pure gaming, Call of Duty, at the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got virtual and simulated Olympic and Paralympic sports. And so where we’re going to start exploring is from that place, rather than the opposite.”