The 2023 Rugby League European Championships was intended to be the 34th edition of the first division, Euro A, and 11th edition of the second division, Euro B, as well as the inaugural edition of the promotion and relegation era of the tournament after the cancellation of the planned first edition in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The tournament is officially postponed until an undefined date as a result of France withdrawing as hosts of the

2025 Rugby League World Cup The 2025 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2025) was a planned collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league which was replaced by the 2026 Rugby League World Cup. Like 2021, the 2025 World Cup was to have run a men's, women's and wheelchai ...

, due to the tournament acting as the European qualifiers. However, with a new format European qualifications tournament for the replacement

2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup The 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup will be the seventeenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup, and will be one of three major tournaments part of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup. The competition was to be held in October and November 202 ...

, the 2023 European Championships is informally cancelled. In March 2025, the ERL announced the return of the tournament starting in October, thus officially canceling the 2023 edition.

Euro A

The 2023 Rugby League European Championship was intended to be the 34th edition of the

Rugby League European Championship The Rugby League European Championship (formerly known as the European Cup and European Nations Cup) is a rugby league football tournament for European national teams that was first held in 1935. Originally, the European Cup had three teams, wi ...

, and the inaugural edition of the promotion and relegation era of the tournament after the cancellation of the planned first edition in 2020 due to the

. On 25 May 2023, the

European Rugby League The European Rugby League (ERL) (previously Rugby League European Federation (RLEF)) is the umbrella body for nations playing the sport of rugby league football across Europe. In the absence of other continental federations, ERL also controls ru ...

(ERL) announced that the tournament would be postponed due to France withdrawing as hosts of the

, this was as the competition acted as a World Cup qualification tournament for Europe. The tournament was scheduled October and November 2023.

Format

The tournament was to act as

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for

. The eight teams of the tournament will be split into two groups of four and each play a single round robin. The top team from each group of Euro A will contest the final and were to automatically qualify for the World Cup. Group runners-up were to contest a playoff with the winners of the Euro B group winners for the final two European World Cup places.

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(as hosts) and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

(as

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

knock-out stage participants) had qualified for the World Cup so if either of these teams had finished in a qualification spot, the next highest team in the group would gain qualification rights.

England schedule clash

After the fixture list was released, the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

(RFL) announced that England would play in a three-match home test series, the dates of which coincide with the European fixtures. The RFL had already decided that the England team for the European Championships would be led by

England Knights England Knights is the feeder team for the England national rugby league team. The Knights play a key role in the development of emerging talent, allowing players to gain experience in an international environment and to compete for a place in ...

head coach, Paul Anderson, and not England head coach,

Shaun Wane Shaun David Wane (born 14 September 1964) is an English professional rugby league coach and former professional rugby league footballer, who is currently the head coach of the England national rugby league team. He is also Leadership and Manage ...

. As the Championships are an international tournament, sanctioned by the

Rugby League International Federation The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. The IRL organises the Rugby League World Cup, the oldest international rugby World Cup, as well as the Women's and Wheelchair equivalen ...

, England's matches are classed as full England internationals, not Knights' fixtures.

Teams

Group stage

The draw for the tournament was made on 22 February 2023 in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

by Lisa McIntosh and Michelle Hargreaves. The tournament scheduled was confirmed on 31 March.

Group A

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Group B

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Final

Euro B

The 2023 European Championship B was intended to be the 11th edition of the second tier of the Rugby League European Championship. On 25 May 2023, the

(ERL) announced that the tournament would be postponed due to France withdrawing as hosts of the

, this was as the competition acted as a World Cup qualification tournament for Europe. The tournament was scheduled October and November 2023.

Format

The tournament was to act as

for

. The six teams of the tournament will be split into two groups of three and each play a single round robin. The top team from each group of Euro B will contest the final, and would originally enter a playoff with one of the group runners up from Euro A groups for a spot in the World Cup.

Teams

The tournament will consist of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

was originally part of the competition, but as they remained suspended due to the ongoing

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, who were the runners-up from 2021 Euro D Championship, replaced them in the tournament.

Group stage

Fixtures were announced on 28 October 2022.

Group A

Due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, both of Ukraine's group stage matches were played away.

Group B

Final

Notes

References

External links

Official Page
{{2023 in rugby league Rugby League European Championship

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...