Rugby World Cup hosts

Rugby World Cup host nation

The Rugby World Cup host nation is selected by World Rugby at a meeting six years before each tournament. Each of the Rugby World Cups from 1987 to 2015 were hosted by countries that are considered the traditional powers in World Rugby. The first non Rugby Championship or Six Nations country to host a Rugby World Cup was Japan in 2019, after failed bids for the 2011 (awarded to New Zealand) and 2015 (awarded to England) tournaments.

World Rugby requires for a country to host a Rugby World Cup, it must possess the necessary facilities. Stadiums must have a capacity at least 15,000, with the stadium for the final having a capacity of at least 60,000. The stadiums have other requirements, such as pitch size and floodlighting. World Rugby also looks for hosts that will either generate significant revenue or hosts that will spread the geographic reach of the sport. According to World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset in 2008:
"As the revenue generation is vital to our ongoing development plans, we recognise that the World Cup has to be held in one of our senior core markets on a regular basis . However, the commercial success of the tournament also means we can now consider placing the tournament in new developing markets to assist the game's strategic growth." World Rugby also tends to rotate continents, with no continent to date hosting two consecutive World Cups.

The first Rugby World Cup was hosted by Australia and New Zealand after the Australian Rugby Union and the New Zealand Rugby Union each independently wrote to the International Rugby Board seeking to conduct a World Cup tournament. The final was played in Auckland, New Zealand at Eden Park and won by New Zealand.

The 1991 Rugby World Cup was jointly hosted by the Five Nations Championship countries (England, Ireland, Wales, France and Scotland), with games played all over these five European nations. Pool A, in which England played, saw half of the matches played in London, though games were also in Leicester, Gloucester and Otley. Pool B games involved European nations Scotland and Ireland, which had all their games in either Dublin or Edinburgh; one game was played in Belfast. Pool C included Wales, whose games were all played in Cardiff, with the other games in Pontypool, Pontypridd, and Llanelli. Pool D, of which France were a part, saw games played in Agen, Bayonne, Béziers Brive, Grenoble, and Toulouse. None of the quarter finals or semi finals was played in England. The final was played at the Rugby Football Union's Twickenham.

The 1995 World Cup was hosted and won by South Africa. The IRB broke new ground by awarding the tournament to an African nation, making it the first major sporting event ever held on the continent. This was also the first Rugby World Cup to be played entirely in one country. The tournament is most remembered for two moments—the emergence of Jonah Lomu as a rugby superstar, and the trophy presentation. In one of the most emotional moments in sports history, President Nelson Mandela wore a Springbok jersey and matching baseball cap when presenting the trophy to the team's Afrikaner captain Francois Pienaar. Mandela's jersey had Pienaar's number 6 on the back. The presentation was widely seen as a sign of reconciliation between South Africa's black and white communities.

The 1999 World Cup was hosted by Wales with some matches spread across Scotland, England, Ireland and France. The format of the pool games was similar to the 1991 World Cup in England. All Pool A games were held in Scotland, Pool B games in England, Pool C games in France, Pool D games were all held in Wales and Pool E games were all held in Ireland. Second round play offs and the quarter finals were held a variety of European venues, the semi finals were held at Twickenham Stadium, London. The third place play off and the final were held at the new Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

The 2003 Cup was intended to be held jointly by Australia and New Zealand, but disagreements between the International Rugby Board and the NZRU, over sponsorship, advertising and ticketing, saw the competition played solely in Australia. This was the first and only tournament to date to be won by a team from the northern hemisphere. The 2003 World Cup saw matches played in eleven stadia in ten Australian cities.

The host for the 2019 tournament was Japan, who won the right to host the tournament on 28 July 2009. Japan became the event's first ever host outside of the sport's traditional top tier nations.

After Argentina withdrew its bid, the Australian bid was the sole favourite for the 2027 Rugby World Cup host. During the annual meeting in Dublin on May 12 2022, the World Rugby Council unanimously approved Australia and the United States as the host tournament of the men's World Cup in 2027 and 2031, respectively.

The United States became the sole bid for the 2031 Rugby World Cup in November 2021. During the annual meeting in Dublin on May 12 2022, the World Rugby Council unanimously approved Australia and the United States as the host tournament of the men's World Cup in 2027 and 2031, respectively.