The 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship (ENWC) was a rugby league tournament held for Tier Two and Tier Three nations, the third edition of the Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament.

Quick Facts Emerging Nations World Championship (), Number of teams ...

2018 (2018) Emerging Nations World Championship  ()
Number of teams	11
Host country	Australia
Winner	Malta
Matches played	22
Attendance	8,532 (388 per match)
Points scored	1025 (46.59 per match)
Top scorer	Ethan Niszczot (60)
Top try scorers	Chippie Korostchuk (6) Justice Utatao (6)
Tournaments  < 2000

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Several nations that had not qualified, or were not eligible to qualify, for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup planned to contest an Emerging Nations tournament in Sydney in 2017 alongside the World Cup. However this tournament did not get support from the Rugby League International Federation, and did not go ahead.^[1]

On 29 March 2017, the Rugby League International Federation announced that Australia will be host the tournament in 2018.^[2] The two-week-long tournament will be held in Western Sydney, New South Wales with games taking place in Windsor, St Marys and Cabramatta.^[3]

Ten teams were already confirmed for the tournament by March 2017^[2] with a number of others later also announcing their participation.^[4][5][6] 15 teams were expected to compete, though Canada, India, Latvia, and Thailand were not included in the final draw, for unspecified reasons.

More information Nation, Coach ...

Nation	Coach	Notable players	RLIF Rank (Jul 2018)
Greece	Steve Georgallis	Stefanos Bastas, Michael Korkidas, Jordan Meads[7]	26
Hong Kong	Jason Fairleigh[8]	–	45
Hungary	Jonathan Wilson	Stuart Flanagan[9]	21
Japan	Viliami Ahosivi	Gehamat Shibasaki[10]	41
Malta	Peter Cassar & Aaron McDonald	Tyler Cassel, Jarrod Sammut,[11] Sam Stone[12]	18
Niue	Brendan "Bman" Perenara	Zebastian Lucky Luisi, Eddie Paea, Sione Tovo[13]	34
Philippines	Arwin Marcus	Shane Gray, Payne Haas (),[14] Paul Sheedy[15]	27
Poland	Lee Addison[16][17]	Harry Siejka[18]	–
Solomon Islands	John Jewiss & Luke Heckendorf [19]	–	42
Turkey	Scott Hartas	Emre Guler, Aidan Sezer, Jansin Turgut[20]	–
Vanuatu	Lionel Harbin[21]	Alehana Mara[22]	36

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Four multi-country regional teams will compete in a parallel tournament.^[2]

More information Region, Organising body ...

Region	Organising body	Eligible countries
Africa	Africa United Rugby League	54 sovereign states of Africa.[23]  Algeria,  Angola,  Benin,  Botswana,  Burkina Faso,  Burundi,  Cape Verde,  Cameroon,  Central African Republic,  Chad,  Comoros,  Congo,  Cote d'Ivoire,  Djibouti,  DR Congo,  Egypt,  Equatorial Guinea,  Eritrea,  Ethiopia,  Gabon,  Gambia,  Ghana,  Guinea,  Guinea-Bissau,  Kenya,  Lesotho,  Liberia,  Libya,  Madagascar,  Malawi,  Mali,  Mauritania,  Mauritius,  Morocco,  Mozambique,  Namibia,  Niger,  Nigeria,  Rwanda,  São Tomé and Príncipe,  Senegal,  Seychelles,  Sierra Leone,  Somalia,  South Africa,  South Sudan,  Sudan,  Swaziland,  Tanzania,  Togo,  Tunisia,  Uganda,  Zambia, and  Zimbabwe.
Latin America	Latin Heat Rugby League	23 sovereign states in the Americas, plus Puerto Rico.[24]  Argentina,  Belize,  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Chile,  Colombia,  Costa Rica,  Cuba,  Dominican Republic,  Ecuador,  El Salvador,  Guatemala,  Guyana,  Haiti,  Honduras,  Mexico,  Nicaragua,  Panama,  Paraguay,  Peru,  Puerto Rico,  Suriname,  Uruguay, and  Venezuela.
Mediterranean	Mediterranean Rugby League
South East Asia	ASEAN RL Association

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Cabramatta

Kellyville

St Marys

Windsor

Sydney CBD

The venues are located in the Western region of the Sydney metropolis.

• Cabramatta: New Era Stadium, home of the Cabramatta Two Blues, has previously hosted four international fixtures: Philippines vs Serbia (2016), Philippines vs Malta, Lebanon vs Malta, and Malta vs Hungary (all 2017).
• Kellyville: Kellyville Ridge Reserve, all-weather synthetic pitch previously unused at any level, hosted games on 7 October as Cabramatta was closed due to flooding.^[25]
• St Marys: St Marys Leagues Stadium, home of the St Marys Saints, has previously hosted six international fixtures: Fiji vs Tonga, Samoa vs Cook Islands, Lebanon vs Malta (all 2006), Lebanon vs Malta (2015), Malta vs Hungary, South Africa vs Malta (both 2018). It contains a 520-seat grandstand and has a total capacity of 7,000.^[26]
• Windsor: Windsor Sporting Complex, home of the Windsor Wolves, has not previously hosted an international fixture.

Tournament fixtures were announced on 17 July 2018.^[27]

Pool A

More information Malta, 36 – 10 ...

1 October Malta  36 – 10  Philippines Windsor 4 October Malta  16 – 26  Niue St Marys 7 October Philippines  12 – 24  Niue Kellyville[25]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1  Niue 2 2 0 0 50 28 +22 4 2  Malta 2 1 0 1 52 36 +16 2 3  Philippines 2 0 0 2 22 60 −38 0

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Pool B

More information Greece, 18 – 20 ...

1 October Greece  18 – 20  Hungary Windsor 4 October Hungary  18 – 13  Vanuatu St Marys 7 October Greece  38 – 0  Vanuatu Kellyville[25]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1  Hungary 2 2 0 0 38 31 +7 4 2  Greece 2 1 0 1 56 20 +36 2 3  Vanuatu 2 0 0 2 13 56 −43 0

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Pool C

More information Solomon Is., 22 – 30 ...

1 October Solomon Is.  22 – 30  Turkey Windsor 4 October Japan  0 – 60  Turkey St Marys 4 October Hong Kong  6 – 62  Poland St Marys 7 October Solomon Is.  32 – 12  Hong Kong Kellyville[25] 7 October Japan  6 – 58  Poland Kellyville[25]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1  Poland 2 2 0 0 120 12 +108 4 2  Turkey 2 2 0 0 90 22 +68 4 3  Solomon Islands 2 1 0 1 54 42 +12 2 4  Hong Kong 2 0 0 2 18 94 -76 0 5  Japan 2 0 0 2 6 118 -112 0

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