Host 1: United States and Canada

After the United States lost the 2021 Rugby League World Cup bid to England, International Rugby League (IRL) recommended that the United States and Canada should host the 2025 event after a bid by Moore Sports International.^[7] The IRL Congress reviewed that recommendation at a meeting in November 2016.^[8] On 20 November, it was announced that the United States and Canada bid had won the rights to host the 2025 World Cup. This would have been the first time the tournament was held outside of Europe and Oceania.^[9][10]

On 4 December 2018, plans for the World Cup to be held in North America were scrapped due to financial concerns and that the location of the 2025 Rugby League World Cup would be determined by a new bidding process in 2019.^[11]

Host 2: France

In March 2021, it was reported that France is the preferred destination for the 2025 Rugby League World Cup.^[12] France officially lodged a bid later that year, in July.^[13]

In January 2022, France won the bid to host the world cup. The official announcement announcing France as the host nation was made on 11 January 2022 by then French prime minister, Jean Castex, who described hosting the tournament as "a tremendous asset for economic appeal and social cohesion".^{[14][15][16][17]}

International Rugby League president Troy Grant stated:^[17]

"The rebirth of international rugby league in France has been a strategic goal of our sport for many decades and I am delighted that it will now become a reality through this award of the 2025 World Cup to France."

On 12 May 2023 reports began circulating that France would withdraw from hosting the tournament.^[18]

On 15 May, it was announced that France had withdrawn as hosts, due to financial concerns from the new French government, elected in May 2022.^{[19][20][21][22][23]} French rugby league journalist Rodolphe Pires [fr] cited the lack of regular international matches and France's poor performances in recent years as a contributing factor to the French Government's decision.^[24]

Subsequent action and cancellation

One day after France's withdrawal, New Zealand announced it was considering a bid to host the tournament in 2026, as well as a bid with potential co-hosts Australia which could be staged in the intended 2025.^[30][31] Fiji, Qatar, and South Africa had also expressed interest.^{[32][33][34][35]}

In August 2023 the IRL announced that the 2025 tournaments were cancelled with the next events to take place in 2026 in the southern hemisphere and with the number of nations taking part in the men's tournament reduced from 16 to 10. The number of women's and wheelchair teams participating remained at 8 after a planned expansion to 16.^[3][4][5][6]

Men's

Women's

2025 would have been the first time women's teams would have to qualify for the World Cup. However, a complete qualification schedule was never announced. It was intended that the qualification process would have been announced in June 2023. Including the automatically qualifying teams, the tournament would consist of three teams from The Americas, six from Asia-Pacific, six Europe, and one from Middle East-Africa.^[36] On 8 March 2023, details for the European qualification process were announced with eight teams divided into two groups and matches scheduled to take place between September 2023 and May 2024.^[38]

Wheelchair and Youth

The wheelchair tournament would continue to be invitees only, with the inaugural youth tournament being the same.