World Cup 2027 draw process explained
SPOTLIGHT: The draw for World Cup 2027 will take place on Wednesday, December 3, and the format for the expanded edition with 24 teams has been unveiled.
World Cup 2027 will be the biggest tournament in the sport’s history, with 24 teams battling it out for the Webb Ellis Cup in two years.
Australia will get things underway in the opening game at Perth Stadium on October 1, 2027, kickstarting a new era for the Men’s World Cup.
But how does it all work? Marking exactly two years to the day that the tournament will begin, World Rugby has unveiled the format for World Cup 2027.
In previous tournaments, going back to World Cup 2003, there have traditionally been 20 teams that were divided into four pools of five teams.
The top two teams from each pool would then progress to the quarterfinals, which were the first round of the knockouts.
At Australia 2027, there will be 24 teams, and therefore the tournament requires a new format and one big change: a Round of 16 as the first knock-out game.
What is the format?
There will now be six pools with four teams in each.
The top two teams from each pool will progress to the Round of 16, while the four best third-place teams will also progress.
Those four teams will be determined by competition points firstly, and if that doesn’t separate the sides, then points difference and try difference will be the next factors used respectively to determine which teams make it out of the pool stage.
While there are more knock-out matches, the change from five teams in each pool to four has meant one fewer match for each team in the pool stage.
For example, when South Africa won World Cup 2023, they played seven games: four games in the pool stage and a quarterfinal, a semifinal and a Final.
If they were to reach the Final of World Cup 2027, they would still only play seven games: three games in the pool stage, then Round of 16, a quarterfinal, a semifinal and a Final.
But fans still get four extra matches, and as an added bonus, having an even number of teams in each pool means no team has to sit out a round while the others play each other.
So, despite adding four extra teams, the pool stage is now in fact shorter.
While Rugby World Cup 2023 lasted 50 days in total, World Cup 2027 will take place over 43 days.
It will therefore be a more condensed and exciting tournament, without adding to the players’ workload.
How will the Round of 16 work?
In previous formats, the quarterfinalists would just be the winners of each pool against the runners-up of another pool.
With six pools feeding 16 spots in the first round of the knock-outs, that requires some changes.
First, have a look at this graphic, which shows the road to the final:
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As you can see, the teams that finish top of Pool A, B, C and D will face a third-place team in the Round of 16, while the teams that finish top of Pool E and F will face teams that finished second in their pool.
Likewise, some teams that finished second in their pool may face the winner of another pool, while some will face the runners-up.
While on the surface that may seem slightly unfair, that imbalance is addressed in the next round.
Let’s take Pool A and Pool E as an example.
The team that wins Pool A will face a third-place team in the Round of 16, but in the quarterfinals could potentially meet the winner of Pool B if that team wins their Round of 16 match.
On the other hand, the team that wins Pool E will face a runner-up rather than a third-place team in the Round of 16, but in the quarterfinals would face the winner of a quarterfinal between two other runners-up.
So while the winner of Pool A would face a third-ranked team and then potentially a top-ranked team in their games, the winner of Pool E would face second-ranked teams in both games.
There’s therefore no advantage or disadvantage to be gained or lost; regardless of your team’s ranking at the end of the pool stage, it will all even out in the end.
Who will my team face in the pool stage?
That will all be decided on Wednesday, December 3.
The draw will take place in Sydney and will be broadcast online on RugbyPass TV.
Which teams have qualified?
The 12 teams that finished in the top three of their pools at World Cup 2023 have automatically qualified for the 2027 showpiece.
Those teams are: France, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, South Africa, Scotland, Wales, Fiji, Australia, England, Argentina and Japan.
The 12 remaining places were reserved for teams that qualified through various tournaments, including this year’s Rugby Europe Championship and Rugby Africa Cup. Eleven of those teams are:
Georgia, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Tonga, Canada, United States, Uruguay, Chile, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong China.
There is one final qualification tournament taking place in Dubai in November, with four teams competing for the final spot at the 2027 World Cup: Namibia, Belgium, Samoa, and the winner of a play-off between Brazil and Paraguay, which will be held in October.
How does the draw work?
Once the 24 teams are confirmed, they are seeded from one to 24 based on their World Rugby rankings at the time of the draw on December 3.
As things stand, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, France, England and Argentina are the top six teams in the rankings.
The next six are Australia, Scotland, Fiji, Italy, Georgia and Wales.
The top six teams will be grouped in Band One, while the next six form Band Two, and so on.
Each pool will have one team from each of the four bands.
There is only one exception to all this: Australia already know they are in Pool A as they are the host nation and will therefore contest the opening game on October 1 2027.
The Wallabies are currently in Band Two, which means a team from Band One will be drawn and placed in Pool A, and they would automatically be joined by Australia.
However, should Australia climb into the top six by December, they would automatically be the top-ranked team in Pool A, and a team from Band 2 would be drawn alongside them.
Where will the games be played?
With the new format, there will be 52 games at World Cup 2027, an increase from the 48 we saw in the 2023 edition.
The games will be shared between seven iconic Australian cities: Adelaide | Tarntanya, Brisbane | Meeanjin, Melbourne | Narrm, Newcastle | Awabakal-Worimi, Perth | Boorloo, Sydney | Gadigal and Townsville | Gurambilbarra.
