France will host the Rugby League World Cup in 2025, 71 years after the very first edition, the French Rugby League Federation announced on Tuesday.
Initially scheduled in the United States and Canada but postponed for financial reasons, the seventeenth World Rugby League will be the third edition organized only in France, the first for 53 years.
Read also Rugby to XIII: France will organize the World Cup in 2025
“
It's a great moment.
I know the weight of the symbols and I understand what you feel: there are all the practitioners and supporters of this discipline behind you
”, rejoiced Prime Minister Jean Castex at a press conference, during the announcement in Paris. , before joking about his "
immoderate love for the oval ball
".
Rugby, "
it is not only a personal taste but a French passion
", added the Prime Minister, former mayor of Prades (Pyrénées-Orientales) and supporter of Usap and Dragons Catalans, the two clubs of Perpignan.
This competition is part of an assumed policy of promoting and hosting major international events in France.
Jean Castex
“
The government fully supports this competition because it is part of an assumed policy of promoting and hosting major international events in France.
France had already organized the World Cup in 1954 and then in 1972, before being the co-host in 2000 and 2013 with the United Kingdom and Ireland.
According to the FFRXIII press release, France-2025 will bring together four competitions (women, men, armchairs and young people) over five weeks simultaneously and will take place in forty cities across the country.
"
Conceived as an ecologically and economically responsible project, France-2025 will be an accelerator for the economy, tourism, employment and vocational training, thanks to the direct and indirect benefits generated by the organization of the competition and to more than 2,000 professional training courses that will be offered by France-2025 during the years 2023, 2024 and 2025
”, welcomed the Federation.
The 2021 edition postponed by one year
“
France-2025 will be a popular competition. The average price of a ticket will indeed be less than 30 euros and will thus allow all audiences to participate in this celebration
, ”added the body. The Blues never won the event, reaching the final in 1954 and 1968. Australia, two-time defending champion, have won the competition eleven times.
The 2021 edition, postponed by one year due to the pandemic, is scheduled in England from October 15 to November 19.
France will host the Rugby Union World Cup in 2023 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games the following year.
Rugby Union had 13,000 licensees in 2021, divided into 170 clubs, including 22 women's sections.
Two French clubs, the Catalan Dragons and Olympic Toulouse, compete in the Super League against the best English clubs.
The Perpignan-based Dragons reached the final last season.
