For those not following the game closely you may not realise that France has pulled out of hosting the 2025 event. It could not be held due to doubts about its financial viability. It's a sad affair considering that France has previously hosted the competition in 1954 (the inaugural event), 1972 and 2000 (partial hosting). It was an idea from the French RL federation that started off the concept of World Cups in the first place and the trophy is named after the president of French RL at the time Paul Barrière.
So what are the options now? Cancel it altogether, postpone it a year or allocate it to another location. The first two will depend on the third option so I'll cut straight to that. Already a few expressions of interest have been made. New Zealand is a major one and a reasonably good case for that.
A left field offer is from Qatar, a nation that pushes to host international tournaments. FIFA held its last WC there and it was a success without much of a controversy. They don't play the game of RL there but that could be sorted no doubt. The financial success of a WC in Qatar would presumably be a given, with a guarantee from the host.
If that doesn't come off and NZ decides it isn't quite ready and neither is anyone else, one of the other two options would come into play. They are postponement or cancellation. The latter need not happen but who knows in RL?
PS. It became the 2026 event, co-hosted by Australia, NZ and PNG.
