Chile Will Host New World Rugby U20 Challenger Cup in 2026

Chile and World Rugby announced that the South American nation will host the 2026 World Rugby U20 Challenger Cup, which will see the interregional competition featuring at least six teams.

World Rugby U20 Challenger Cup

The U20 Challenger Cup announcement was made by Chile Rugby at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos in Santiago in mid-April 2025 with Raúl Sigren, the Vice-President of Chile Rugby, Minister of Sports Jaime Pizarro, Governor of Santiago Claudio Orrego Larraín, the national director of the Sports Institute Israel Castro, Chile Olympic Committee President Miguel Ángel Mujica and Sudamérica Rugby Vice-President Jorge Pizzaro all present.

A press release from World Rugby confirmed that the tournament will represent a significant boost for rugby in Chile as they continue to build on the men’s national team’s debut at the Rugby World Cup 2023 in France, and they hope to qualify for the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 when they play against Brazil in July 2025. Chile have also developed the High-Performance Rugby Centre (CARR) in Mahuida Park to develop the sport.

Raúl Sigren, the Vice-President of Chile Rugby, said: “This is truly a milestone for Chile Rugby and our vision to become the second sport in our country. The confidence and support that World Rugby continuously gives us are vital to achieving this goal. We have an enormous responsibility to deliver a world-class event in 2026 and to consolidate the role that we want to build in this sport.”

Age-Grade Rugby Tournaments

Although the global governing body said that “Age-grade rugby remains an important vehicle for global competitiveness,” there is no U20 Troohy tournament in 2025, but the tier-1 U20 Rugby Championship will be played in June in Italy, and the Rugby Championship Under-20 involving the SANZAAR teams will be played in South Africa in May 2025.

World Rugby said it continues to “consult with national unions and regional associations regarding the possibility to expand the annual World Rugby U20 Championship from 12 to 16 teams from 2026, which is part of a wide-ranging review of men’s age-grade competition structures aimed at increasing the competitiveness and sustainability of international rugby.

The U20 Challenger Cup 2026 is being supported by World Rugby to enable teams to access meaningful international competition as regional pathways are finalised.

Nigel Cass, World Rugby’s Chief of Competitions, Performance and Development Manager, said: “We believe this will be an exciting addition to the global U20s calendar in 2026 with some of the world’s best young playing talent assembling in Chile for what promises to be an exciting event in a country that is embracing rugby, growing its fan and player base.”

From Asia, we are sure teams like Japan, Hong Kong China, and others will be keen to be involved as they continually tell us the need to play age-grade rugby tournaments as part of their pathway development and the need to play teams from other regions for different challenges.

Chile Rugby will provide details on the U20 Challenger Cup participating teams, match schedules and ticket sales in the coming months. 

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