In October 2016, England was announced as the host the tournament, granting them automatic qualification. In March 2017, the RLIF confirmed that the 8 quarter-finalists from the 2017 World Cup would receive automatic qualification to the 2021 tournament, along with details of how many slots each region will be allocated: "Seven teams will be qualified from Europe, six from the Asia-Pacific, two from the Americas, and one from a play-off series hosted in Middle East/Africa." Because Lebanon gained automatic qualification, a repechage play-off between the 2nd placed Middle East/Africa team, 2nd placed Americas team, and the 7th placed Asia-Pacific team will take place instead of qualifying 2 Americas teams. The RLIF requires participating nations to hold full or affiliate level membership. The Netherlands are the only such nation that opted to not participate.
Europe
England are the only European team to have been guaranteed qualification, with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales all failing to reach the quarter finals of the 2017 World Cup. With the World Cup expanding to 16 teams in 2021, one extra European slot is available in comparison to the 2017 tournament.
Preliminary rounds
While the elite division of the 2018 European Rugby League Championship will see the top two teams qualify directly for the World Cup, the other European places will be decided in a play-off containing team from each level of the Championship. The 2018 European Championship C will progress 1 team to the European play-off, the winner of the Championship C final between Norway and Greece. The 2018 European Championship B will progress 2 teams to the European play-off, Russia and Spain. These three teams will be joined by Italy, and the third and fourth place teams from the elite division.
First round
The 2018 European Championship will automatically qualify 2 teams to the World Cup, the bottom two nations will become the top seeds in the 2019 final European qualifying tournament.
Second round
The European play-off tournament will qualify four teams to the World Cup. It is scheduled for October and November 2019 and will consist of:
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The six teams will be split into two round-robin pools. The winners and runner-up in each pool will qualify for the 2021 World Cup. There will be no European qualification to the intercontinental play-off. Pool A
Pool B
Americas
The Americas group comprised four teams and was played as a single eliminationknock-out tournament. won the group beating in the first round and then in the final. qualified for the intercontinental play-off by finishing as the runner-up of the tournament.
Preliminary matches
Play-off match
Repechage
The intercontinental play-off will consist of the Americas championship runner up, 7th highest ranked Asia-Pacific team, and the 2nd highest ranked Middle East-Africa team.
