The 2017 Rugby League World Cup Europe qualification was a rugby league tournament held in October and November 2016 to decide the three European qualifiers for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.

It consisted of a round-robin tournament which saw Wales and Ireland qualify by winning their respective tables. Italy claimed the final qualifying spot in the World Cup after winning a second place play-off against Russia on 4 November 2016.

On 3 October 2014, the 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying competition was announced.^[1] Three European teams were granted automatic qualification, as they had reached the quarter-finals of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup; England, France and Scotland.

Ten teams were able to qualify for the qualification tournament, with the first being eliminated when Spain defeated Latvia on 9 May 2015.^[2]

Wales and Ireland were granted entry to the qualification tournament. Both teams already had a chance to qualify for the World Cup during the 2014 European Cup, but failed to do so.^[3] One of the other tournament places was allocated to the winner of the European Championship C tournament, and the other three were allocated to the top three teams from the European Championship B.

Italy, Russia and Serbia finished as the top three teams in the European Championship B, with Ukraine being eliminated.^[4]

Spain finished as the top team in the European Championship C, with Greece and Malta eliminated.

Qualified teams for final phase:

•  Wales were granted automatic entry as 1st seed
•  Ireland were granted automatic entry as 2nd seed
•  Serbia qualified as 3rd seed after finishing top of the Rugby League European Championship B.
•  Russia qualified as 4th seed after finishing 2nd in the Rugby League European Championship B.
•  Italy qualified as 5th seed after finishing 3rd in the Rugby League European Championship B.
•  Spain qualified as 6th seed after finishing top of the Rugby League European Championship C.

Squads

Ireland

The final Ireland 22-man squad as of 9 October 2016 is as follows:^[5]

• Coach: Mark Aston

More information Club Team, Players ...

Club Team	Players
Athboy Longhorns	Casey Dunne
Ballynahinch Rabbitohs	Gareth Gill
Belfast Met Scholars	Chris Hall
Bradford Bulls	Joseph Keyes
Dublin City Exiles	James Kelly, Mikey Russell
Galway Tribesmen	Alan McMahon
Halifax	Luke Ambler
Huddersfield Giants	Scott Grix, Oliver Roberts
Ireland Students	Matthew Cahoon
Leigh Centurions	Greg McNally
Oldham R.L.F.C.	Will Hope
Parramatta Eels	James Hasson
Redcliffe Dolphins	Danny Bridge
Rochdale Hornets	Matty Hadden
St. Helens	Shannon McDonnell
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	Liam Finn
Warrington Wolves	George King, Toby King, Joe Philbin
Whitehaven	David Allen

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Italy

The final Italy 22-man squad as of 8 October 2016 is as follows:^[6]

• Coach: Cameron Ciraldo

More information Club Team, Players ...

Club Team	Players
Blacktown Workers	Dean Parata
Brianza Tigers	Patrik Ziliotti
Cairns Brothers	Joel Riethmuller
Canterbury Bulldogs	Joseph Tramontana
Cronulla Sharks	Jayden Walker
Hull Kingston Rovers	Terry Campese, Josh Mantellato
Lézignan Corbieres	Christophe Calegari
Lions Brescia	Giuseppe Pagani
Mackay Cutters	Gavin Hiscox
Newcastle Thunder	Gioele Celerino
Northern Pride	Justin Castellaro, Ryan Ghietti, Colin Wilkie
North Queensland Cowboys	Kieran Quabba
Oldham R.L.F.C.	Richard Lepori
*Sacramento Express	Mirco Bergamasco
St. George Illawarra Dragons	Shannon Wakeman
South Wales Ironmen	Chris Vitalini
Townsville Blackhawks	Brenden Santi
Windsor Wolves	Ryan Tramonte
Wyong Roos	Chris Centrone

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• * Denotes a rugby union club.

Russia

The final Russia 22-man squad as of 6 September 2016 is as follows:^[7]

• Coach: Denis Korolev

More information Club Team, Players ...

Club Team	Players
CSKA Moscow	Kirill Kosharin
Dinamo	Viacheslav Eremin, Andrey Kuznetsov
*Ivanovo White Sharks	Ivan Troitskii
RC Lokomotiv Moscow	Vadim Buryak, Leonid Kalinin, Maxim Tsinkovich
Nara	Petr Botnarash, Mikhail Burlutskii, Sergey Gaponov, Anatoly Grigorev, Sergei Konstantinov, Aleksandr Lysokon, Maksim Suchkov, Denis Tiulenev, Vladimir Vlasyuk, Nikolay Zagoskin
Moscow Fili	Anton Iunisov, Iustin Petrushka
Moscow Storm	Dmitry Bratko, Igor Chuprin, Vadim Fedchuk

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• * Denotes a rugby union club.

Serbia

The final 22-man squad as of 5 October 2016 is as follows:^[8]

• Coach: Ljubomir Bukvic

More information Club Team, Players ...

Club Team	Players
Blacktown Workers	David Andjelić
Cabramatta Two Blues	Reece Grkinić
Collegians	Daniel Burke
Dewsbury Rams	Jason Muranka
Dorćol Spiders	Dalibor Samardžić, Dalibor Vukanović, Stefan Nedeljković, Stevan Stevanović
Kawana Dolphins	Joshua Marjanović
RLK Partizan Belgrade	Džavid Jašari, Vlado Kušić
RLK Radnički Nova Pazova	Pero Madžarević, Žarko Kovačević
RLK Red Star Belgrade	Miloš Ćalić, Miloš Zogović, Vladislav Dedić, Vojislav Dedić
St Clair Comets	Chad Grant
Villeneuve Leopards	Vladica Nikolić
Western Suburbs Magpies	James Mirceski
Wests Tigers	Jordan Grant
Unattached	Ilija Radan

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Spain

The final 22-man squad as of 4 October 2016 is as follows:^[9]

• Coach: Darren Fisher

More information Club Team, Players ...

Club Team	Players
Army Rugby League	Chris Lopez
Custodians Madrid	Antonio Puerta, Daniel Moreno
Hull F.C.	Joel Marquez-Laynez
Irreductibles	Ivan Ordaz
Los Gossos	Clement Laguerre
Palau XIII Broncos	Alexandre Doutres, Cedric Bringuier, Leandre Torres, Mathieu Griffi, Pierre Negre
Paterna Dragons	Matt Dulley
Seaton Rangers	Miguel Charters-Blanco
*Stade Français	Kevin Aparicio
Tonneins XIII	Gonzalo Morro
Torrent Tigres	Aitor Davila, Juan Pablo Rango, Raul Simo
Valencia Warriors	Adrian Alonso, Andrew Pilkington, Luis Thorp
Woolston Rovers	Daniel Garcia

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• * Denotes a rugby union club.

Wales

The final Wales 22-man squad as of 7 October 2016 is as follows:^[10]

On October 14, Dai Evans was brought into the squad to replace Calvin Wellington who withdrew due to a hamstring injury.^[11]

On October 21, 19-year old Ben Morris was called up to the squad to play in a mid-qualifying campaign test match against Jamaica.^[12]

On October 29, Danny Ansell was called up to the squad with a possibility of playing in the last qualifying game against Italy.^[13]

^*Sam Hopkins was called into the team for the final qualifier against Italy after Jacob Emmitt withdrew due to a hamstring injury.^[14]

• Coach: John Kear

More information Club Team, Players ...

Club Team	Players
Gloucestershire All Golds	Morgan Evans, Steve Parry, Lewis Reece
Hunslet Hawks	Danny Ansell
Leigh Centurions	Sam Hopkins
London Broncos	Elliot Kear, Rhys Williams
Mackay Cutters	Andrew Gay
Oldham R.L.F.C.	Joe Burke
Salford Red Devils	Philip Joseph, Craig Kopczak
Sheffield Eagles	Matty Fozard
Souths Logan Magpies	Ollie Olds
South Wales Ironmen	Courtney Davies, Dai Evans, Connor Farrer, Ian Newbury, Christiaan Roets
St. Helens	Regan Grace, Ben Morris
Swinton Lions	*Jacob Emmitt, Rhodri Lloyd
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	Anthony Walker
Widnes Vikings	Gil Dudson, Lloyd White,

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The final qualifying place was determined by a single knockout match held between the two group runners-up on 4 November 2016.

More information Italy, 76 – 0 ...

Italy	76 – 0	Russia

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