Template:RLWC2021 teams
| Region | Team | Qualification method |
Previous appearances |
Previous best result | World ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Americas |  Jamaica
|
Americas winner | 0 | Debut | 13 |
| Asia-Pacific |  Australia
|
Automatic | 15 | Champions (1957, 1968, 1970, 1975, 1977, 1985–88, 1989–92, 1995, 2000, 2013, 2017) | 1 |
 Fiji
|
Automatic | 5 | Semi-finals (2008, 2013, 2017) | 5 | |
 Tonga
|
Automatic | 5 | Semi-finals (2017) | 4 | |
 New Zealand
|
Automatic | 15 | Champions (2008) | 3 | |
 Papua New Guinea
|
Automatic | 7 | Quarter-finals (2000, 2017) | 10 | |
 Western Samoa
|
Automatic | 5 | Quarter-finals (2000, 2013, 2017) | 7 | |
| Europe |  England[a]
|
Hosts | 6 | Runners-up (1975, 1995, 2017) | 2 |
 France
|
European winners | 15 | Runners-up (1954, 1968) | 6 | |
 Wales[a]
|
European runners-up | 5 | Semi-finals (1995, 2000) | 11 | |
 Scotland[a]
|
Europe play-off 1 | 4 | Quarter-finals (2013) | 8 | |
 Ireland[a]
|
Europe play-off 2 | 4 | Quarter-finals (2000, 2008) | 12 | |
 Italy
|
Europe play-off 3 | 2 | Group stages (2013, 2017) | 14 | |
| Europe play-off 4 | |||||
| Middle East-Africa |  Lebanon
|
Automatic | 2 | Quarter-finals (2017) | 9 |
| TBA | Repechage play-off |
- ^ a b c d Competed as part of
Great Britain in nine previous tournaments, finishing as champions on three occasions (1954, 1960, 1972). The squads largely consisted of English players, but also featured Welsh players in every tournament. Scotland (1954, 1968, 1977, 1989–92) and Ireland (1957) were represented by native-born players in some tournaments.