England find out opponents for European Championship

England have found out their opponents for the biggest-ever European Championship, set to kick-off later this year.

Eight nations are set to compete later this autumn.

The draw was made on Wednesday night in Brighouse, with nation representatives present.

England and France have already qualified for the 2025 World Cup. The two highest ranked teams outside of those will earn a spot at the 2025 World Cup.

Euro A Men Seed 1

Group A

England

Scotland

Ireland

Serbia

Group B

France

Wales

Italy

Spain

Fixtures are set to be played across weekends from October 21, with the final to be played across 11-12 November.

First round: 21 October

Second round: 28 October

Third round: 4 November

Final: 11 November

Knights to represent England

England Knights boss Paul Anderson confirmed it will be his side that will compete in the European Championship, with England seniors hoping to host a home series at the end of 2023.

“It will be England Knights,” Paul Anderson confirmed to Love Rugby League. “We’re hoping that the seniors will have some sort of representative football at the end of the year in autumn.

“It’s exciting. Getting the formalisation of who we’re going to play and we’ll just wait now on home and away and where we’re going to go.

“I was involved in the World Cup last year with Shaun (Wane). It was a case of we knew it was happening, but I’ve been twiddling my thumbs a little bit since that wanting to get things in place.

“We have plans in place, but now we can actually confirm a lot of stuff.”

First ever Women’s World Cup qualifiers draw made

Eight teams will compete in the first ever Women’s World Cup qualifiers, with two groups of four teams. England and France are not included, with them having already secured their places at 2025 World Cup by virtue of their participation in the most recent World Cup.

The top two nations in each group will play in France in 2025 in a straight shoot out.

Euro RLWCQ women seeds

Group A

Wales

Greece

Turkey

Netherlands

Group B

Ireland

Serbia

Italy

Malta

The women’s World Cup will also hold qualifying tournaments in Asia-Pacific (involving Fiji, Samoa and Tonga), the Americas (Chile, Jamaica and USA) and Middle East/Africa (Cameroon, Ghana, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa).

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