World Cup Women 2025/26

The Women's Six Nations Championship is the premier annual rugby union competition for national women's teams in Europe. The tournament operates on a single round-robin format, where each participating side plays every other team once. The structure is fixed, with no promotion or relegation between tiers, ensuring a stable calendar for the six permanent members: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales. The event traditionally takes place in the spring, running concurrently with the men's championship.

England holds the record for the most titles, having secured the trophy twenty-two times. The competition traces its origins back to 1996, when it began as the Home Nations Championship before expanding to include France and Italy. Wales joined the cadre of permanent participants, completing the current lineup. While the Six Nations remains the dominant regional fixture, the landscape of international rugby is shifting with the introduction of global structures. World Rugby launched the WXV Global Series, which began its new iteration in 2026. This global tournament divides the top twelve nations into WXV1, while emerging nations compete in WXV2 and WXV3. The new global series is played in the autumn, serving as a counterpart to the springtime European contest. Participation in the WXV is often influenced by performance in the Six Nations, though the two competitions remain distinct entities. The WXV aims to provide more high-level matches for emerging nations, with teams like South Africa and Samoa currently competing in the second tier. The Six Nations continues to be the primary stage for European dominance, while the WXV offers a pathway for broader international development.