Qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup for European Rugby will begin in September 2016, where 5 teams will compete for one direct qualification spot into the final tournament, and a further 26 teams competing, alongside the initial 5 teams, for a place in the Europe/Oceania play-off and or repechage.
Contents
Format
The Rugby Europe Championship, controlled by Rugby Europe, will be the regional qualification tournament for Rugby World Cup 2019, with the Championship, Trophy and Conference 1 and 2 being involved in the process. The 2016/17 (or 2017 for the Championship) will be the sole season used for the qualification process before the round final's take place in May 2017. The respective winners of Round 1A and 1B, Rugby Europe Conference 2 North and South, will progress to the Round 1 Final. The overall winner of Round 1, will advance to the Round 2 Final, where they will play against the winner of Conference 1. The overall winner of Round 2 will advance to the Round 3 Finals, and will play against the winner of the Rugby Europe Trophy tournament, where the winner of that final will parachute down to Round 5. The winner of Round 4, Rugby Europe Championship, will qualifying directly to the World Cup as Europe 1, while the runner up will advance to Round 5. Round 5 will see the winner of Round 3 and the runner-up of Round 4 play against each other to earn the right to progress to the Europe/Oceania play-off.
Entrants
Thirty one teams will compete for the 2019 Rugby World Cup – European qualification.
Round 5: Rugby Europe Championship
For the Rugby Europe Championship teams, results will be considered on a 2-year aggregate from the 2017 and 2018 seasons, with the winner advancing to the Rugby World Cup and the runner-up advancing to the Round 6 playoffs.
Round 6: Final play-off
The winner of this play-off, advances to the Europe/Oceania play-off.