2025 Rugby League World Cup: Fiji, Qatar & South Africa express interest in hosting

Fiji, Qatar and South Africa have expressed an interest in hosting the 2025 Rugby League World Cup, after plans to stage it in France collapsed.

But the chairman of the sport's governing body said it was too early to assess how viable the approaches were.

All possibilities - including putting the tournament back a year, or even cancelling it - are up for discussion.

"We're only 24 hours into this," said Troy Grant, from the International Rugby League (IRL).

"I'm just being honest and open about who has reached out to us."

It was announced on Tuesday that France had pulled out of hosting the tournament, with organisers citing financial reasons.

Grant said there had been "a couple of approaches" about Qatar potentially staging the event, and that the Fiji bid was government-backed.

"We've done no due diligence at this stage on any of those expressions of interest," he said.

"It gives me comfort that there is interest in our sport, our tournament, our World Cup. That's a positive. How real or viable any or all of those options are... we've yet to make those assessments."

A strategy and governance committee of the IRL will meet in June, then present all of the options to the IRL board when they gather in July. A definitive decision on the staging and hosting of the tournament is most likely to be made at that meeting.

A combination of New Zealand and Australia co-hosting the tournament remains favourite.

And the IRL wants to see the women's and wheelchair tournaments staged at the same time as the men's competition, after the success of the triple-headed tournament in England last year.

"I really think it's critical to our future," said Grant. "There are so many positives out of that.

"But what economically and commercially stacks up, too, is a massive contribution. We can't run these things if they are a great idea but end up costing us money and we go broke."

Grant again expressed his dismay at France's withdrawal, which came after local governments failed to meet deadlines to underwrite the costs of staging matches and the national government said it was not financially viable.

The IRL and French government will continue to support rugby league in the country.

"Whilst the meeting the other day with the French government was disappointing, I am reassured of their commitment to the French game," said Grant.

"France remains a number one strategy for the IRL. Our aspiration was that this World Cup was the launching pad for further investment in a professional league in France and it's continual growth.

"The IRL will not abandon France."

This article originally appeared on BBC Sport

Photo: Getty Images