Nations Championship

The South African Rugby Union has announced a plan to host the All Blacks for eight matches, external - featuring games against provincial and South Africa A sides and a three-Test series - in 2026.

The Springboks would travel to New Zealand on a similar itinerary in 2030 in a concept being tagged as 'The Greatest Rugby Rivalry'.

"[Rugby Championship organisers] Sanzaar haven't finalised any of that, but I think that you'd be focusing more on series trophies rather than a Rugby Championship trophy," Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh told The Roar , externalwhen asked what the plans meant for the Wallabies.

He added that he expected the Rugby Championship to take place in 2027 and 2029, but not in 2026, 2028 and 2030, with Australia instead hoping to host their own stand-alone tours in those years.

Qatar Airways has agreed a deal worth up to £80m to become title sponsors of the new Nations Championship in a move that underlines rugby union’s determination to follow other sports in securing investment from the Middle East.

The Guardian revealed in October that Qatar had been chosen to stage the second finals series of the Nations Championship, in 2028, and the national airline has now come on board as headline sponsors. The eight-year deal will cover the qualifying matches and finals series for the first four editions of the new competition running from 2026 until 2034.

Qatar’s move into rugby is partly an acknowledgment that their neighbours Saudi Arabia will dominate the football landscape over the next decade after winning the right to stage the 2034 World Cup and agreeing several sponsorship and broadcasting deals with Fifa. Saudi money is also increasingly prominent in boxing, Formula One, golf and tennis, but the Kingdom has not followed up on initial talks about investing in rugby.

The inaugural Nations Championship will take place next year in a joint venture run by the Six Nations and southern hemisphere Sanzaar unions, with assistance from World Rugby. The Six Nations teams will play three matches away and three at home against the Sanzaar nations and two others – expected to be Japan and Fiji – in July and November followed by a final series.

Under the proposed tournament structure the sixth-ranked European team after the six group matches will play their equivalent from the southern hemisphere, with fifth facing fifth and so on, leading to a grand final to determine the Nations Championship winners. All the final series matches will take place in the same city, with Doha to stage the six playoff games in 2028 after London hosts the first event next year.

Qatar had wanted to stage the first four Nations Championship finals, but that proposal was rejected by the Irish and French unions due to uncertainty over attendances and concerns over the country’s human rights record. The heads-of-terms agreement is understood to give Qatar the option of staging the event again in either 2030 or 2032 however, if certain revenue targets are met.

An announcement about the staging agreement has been delayed by ongoing discussions between the Six Nations and Sanzaar over the revenue split and the allocation of prize money and appearance fees.

Six Nations and Sanzaar are also continuing to hold talks with other commercial partners before confirming the Qatar Airways deal. The size of the deal will make it the biggest title sponsorship in world rugby, with each Nations Championship valued at around £20m, dwarfing the £12m sponsorship value of the Guinness Six Nations, which covers both men’s and women’s competitions.

England are in line to begin their inaugural Nations Championship campaign in just over a year’s time by playing Fiji – potentially in Europe – as well as away matches against South Africa and Argentina, the Guardian understands.

The 12-team competition, which will be held every two years and replaces traditional tours, will break new ground next year in the northern hemisphere summer and, while the fixture list is yet to be announced, the Guardian has learned that existing proposals put England in line to face the Springboks in South Africa for the first time since 2018. A return to Argentina – where Steve Borthwick’s side will play two Tests this summer – is also on the cards.

As per tournament protocols, England’s proposed match with Fiji would take place in either South Africa or Argentina but it is understood the Pacific Islanders would want the fixture to take place in Europe, mostly likely France where a substantial portion of their squad is based. Should that materialise, it is expected that England would play Fiji first before travelling to South Africa and Argentina.

The format of the competition splits the 12 teams into two conferences – the Six Nations in one and the four South African, New Zealand Australian and Argentinian Rugby (Sanzaar) countries and two others, expected to be Japan and Fiji, in another. The Sanzaar conference is in effect split into two blocks and the lowest-ranked team in each play on neutral territory in an effort to minimise travel. Rather than play in either South Africa or Argentina, however, Fiji are hoping to host England in France while Twickenham has also been mooted as a possible venue.

The Six Nations conference is also split into two blocks so two other nations would have the same fixtures as England next summer while the other three would face Australia, Japan and New Zealand. The Six Nations countries would then host the three nations they have not yet played the following autumn, meaning England would welcome Australia, Japan and New Zealand to Twickenham in late 2026. Results from summer and autumn matches would contribute to a final ranking.

On finals weekend, the top teams in each conference will meet each other, with second playing second, and so on, to determine the final rankings. The first grand final is to be held at Twickenham while other stadiums in London are expected to be used for some of the other ranking matches.

Previously the autumn Test window officially allowed nations to have access to their players for only three weeks, so as a trade‑off the Six Nations next year will be truncated to six weeks, with one of the rest weeks removed.

The Nations Championship is to take place every two years, avoiding a clash with British & Irish Lions tours as well as the World Cup. The 2028 finals weekend is to be held in the Middle East and the US is the frontrunner to stage the 2030 edition, a year before hosting the World Cup.

The Nations Championship will be run by the Six Nations and Sanzaar with World Rugby overseeing a tier‑two competition. Promotion to tier one is not due to take place until 2032 at the earliest, however.

Negotiations over a lucrative broadcast deal that would encompass both summer and autumn fixtures are said to be at an advanced stage with TNT Sports considered the frontrunner after a successful first autumn campaign last year.