Rugby World Cup

Women

ALL STATS

CURRENT CHAMPIONSEngland

YEAR STARTED1991

NUMBER OF TEAMS12

MATCHES PER TEAM

OVERVIEW

ABOUT

The showpiece event in women’s rugby union 15s, Rugby World Cup 2025, will again feature 12 teams, including South Africa and defending champions New Zealand, at the tournament in England. RWC 2021, which was played in 2022 in New Zealand due to the global COVID pandemic, was the first Rugby World Cup to adopt a gender-neutral naming approach, furthering World Rugby’s commitment to equality and consistency across its portfolio of major tournaments. World Rugby were the first major sporting federation to adopt this policy for its major tournaments.

THE HISTORY

Rugby World Cup 2021 was played in New Zealand in 2022, where the Black Ferns won the title after beating England in the final. It was the ninth edition of the tournament and the first to be held in the southern hemisphere, and the second tournament held outside of Europe, having first been held in Wales in 1991 followed by Scotland (1994), the Netherlands (1998), Spain (2002), Canada (2006), England (2010), France (2014) and Ireland (2017). In 2025, England will host the Rugby World Cup.