Who will host the 2035 Rugby World Cup: The four-nation bid, dark horse South Africa, and World Rugby’s preference

Several nations have announced their interest in hosting the 2035 Rugby World Cup, with World Rugby beginning its bidding process.

Rugby’s flagship tournament heads to Australia next year before the United States of America four years later, with the game’s governing body is currently in the ‘submission of detailed applicant questionnaires’ process for 2035 bids.

The next step for World Rugby, which will take place this year and early next, will be site visits and feasibility assessments, with an announcement of the preferred host expected by May 2027. A formal appointment by the World Rugby Council is scheduled for November 2027.

With the bidding process gathering pace, Planet Rugby takes stock of the nations who have expressed interest in hosting the 2035 Rugby World Cup and where other nations currently stand.

Changes in the bidding process

First off, unlike the bidding process for the Men’s World Cups in 2027 and 2031, the selection process for RWC2035 will be independent of the 2037 Women’s Rugby World Cup, which will have its own standalone process.

Australia and the USA will host the 2029 and 2031 Women’s tournaments, respectively, but World Rugby shifted away from a dual bid, stating that “This reflects the rapid growth and increasing commercial strength of the women’s game, enabling tailored hosting strategies and optimised legacy planning as demonstrated by a game-changing England 2025 event.”

Furthermore, World Rugby confirmed that they would be considering both single-country proposals and multi-territory consortiums because of the increasing complexity of staging world-class tournaments and fan demand growth.

World Rugby’s preference

In April 2025, World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin revealed discussion around the showpiece event returning to European shores for the 2035 tournament. He explained that it would be part of a rotation of sorts, with the tournament heading to Australia and the USA.

“We took some big strategic decisions a few years ago to go men’s and women’s in Australia and the same in the US,” Gilpin told Sports Mail.

“And we’ve now got to think about the balance and whether we bring 2035 [men’s] and 2037 [women’s] back to Europe. It’s almost like a regional rotation. We’ve never had that discussion strategically in World Rugby before, but that’s probably the way the discussion has got to go.”

Those comments pitted Spain as the leading contender to host the tournament with the Spanish federation and Spanish government opening dialogue with La Liga to ensure that iconic football stadiums like the Santiago Bernabeu and the Camp Nou – the home grounds of Real Madrid and Barcelona – were made available for World Cup matches.

Spain were one of the first nations to announce that they had entered the bidding process, doing so in April 2026 and if World Rugby are eager to bring their showpiece event back to European shores, they will surely be the favourites to land the hosting rights.

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Another Italian bid?

They could face competition from Italy, though, who failed to secure the hosting rights for the 2015 and 2019 RWCs.

The Italians have expressed interest but have not confirmed a formal bid to host the tournament.

“The Italian Rugby Federation expresses its full support for the candidacy of the Italian Football Federation to host Euro2032 and wishes the best success to President (Gabriele) Gravina, the federal structure and all the stakeholders involved,” a statement on the Italian Rugby website in 2023 read.

“The Italian rugby governing body intends to work in synergy with the FIGC and with all the stakeholders involved to ensure that the process of upgrading the stadiums identified in the dossier takes place taking into due consideration the needs of elite international rugby, an essential condition for be able to present, in the immediate future, an Italian candidacy for the 2035 (Men’s) and 2037 (Women’s) Rugby World Cup.”

Italy and Türkiye will host the Euro 2032 but as things stand, the former has not officially entered the race for the RWC2035 bidding process with time running out to do so.

The Middle East bid

In March 2025, reports emerged that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE were preparing a joint bid to host the tournament.

“As our leaders in the Gulf believe, nothing is impossible,” the president of Rugby Asia, Qais Al Dhalai, told the Times. “I foresee this as something that might happen in 2035.”

Just over a year later, that bid seemingly fell through after a change in Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) financial strategy.

This resulted in the country abandoning its plan to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup. According to the Guardian, the Saudis failed to submit an expression of interest to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup to World Rugby and had no plans to do so before the bidding process closes.

South American bid

In October 2026, the Argentine Rugby Union officially announced that it is leading a combined bid to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup in South America along with Uruguay, Chile and Brazil.

The South Americans are at a disadvantage in clinching the hosting rights considering Gilpin’s comments and the fact that the 2031 tournament would be held in North America. However, Sudamérica Rugby Marcello Calandra is confident that they have done enough to convince World Rugby that they would be worthy hosts.

“The submission of our bid to host the Rugby World Cup demonstrates how united our region is, working together and pursuing common goals,” he said in the statement.

“We are confident that we have done everything necessary to convince World Rugby and Rugby World Cup of all the positive aspects we offer as a host.

“We have the support of our national and state governments and the rugby communities of the four countries who have pushed with enormous passion. Hosting a World Cup in our region is a long-standing debt, and we are confident that we are an ideal candidate.”

If they were to win the bid, it would be the first World Cup to be hosted in South America.

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Japan’s bid

The news of the four South American nations entering the bidding process came two weeks after Japan officially confirmed its bid.

The Island hosted the 2019 Rugby World Cup but that wouldn’t count against them according to World Rugby’s recent form, handing France the 2023 World Cup after hosting the 2007 tournament – which would be the same 16-year timeframe if Japan were to win the bid.

“The Japan Rugby Football Union is pleased to announce the establishment of the ‘Rugby World Cup 2035 Bid Advisory Committee’ and the holding of its inaugural meeting today, September 25,” a statement read.

“The committee was formed to pursue a bid to host the Rugby World Cup 2035 in Japan, operating under an ‘All-Japan’ framework that unites the national government, local governments, the sports community, political and business circles, and local communities.”

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Are South Africa dark horses?

South Africa last hosted the Rugby World Cup back in 1995 but has entered the bidding process on four occasions since losing out to New Zealand (2011), England (2015), Japan (2019) and, most controversially, France (2023).

However, they opted not to join the bidding process for the tournaments in 2027 and 2031, with reports stating that the South African government would not be able to secure the guarantee of funds needed by World Rugby after the global pandemic.

Speaking at a media briefing last year, SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer said that the economics of hosting the tournament in the Rainbow Nation meant that World Rugby wouldn’t award South Africa or New Zealand the hosting rights.

“They must go where there will be support from local and national government,” Oberholzer said. “I can never see that the same money can be generated in South Africa, as it can in Europe, or maybe somewhere in the Middle East. It is a World Rugby decision and not an SA decision.

“World Rugby will drive World Cups to where they believe they can make the most money, and we all have to understand that.”

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However, Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie reignited hope that South Africa might host a World Cup 40 years on from 1995 after he said that he will not rest until the competition returns.

“We have the best players, the best teams, the best World Cup team – we’ve won the World Cup multiple times – we have to host the World Cup. I’m not going to rest until I do that,” he said at the 2026 Budget Vote Speech in Cape Town.

However, SA Rugby president Mark Alexander poured cold water over the prospect just days later: “He is the minister; he can say whatever he wants to say.”

He added: “We have decided we won’t be bidding because of the cost of upgrading our stadiums. We heard what he [McKenzie] said, and he has the right to say such things. However, we as an organisation [SARU] have not applied our minds to that [subject].”

There has been no update since late last year, with South Africa not formally joining the race yet. While the financial concerns will be a stumbling block for SA Rugby if they are to launch a late bid, South Africa was named as the preferred candidate for the 2023 tournament and could be a dark horse.

READ MORE: South Africa set for ANOTHER Rugby World Cup U-turn as latest bid stance revealed – report