automatically qualify are the quarter-finalists from the previous World Cup. Qualifying for the 2021 World Cup featured 20 teams, the most to date with 8 teams having automatically qualified. 13 of these teams had never qualified for the World Cup before. 14 teams took part in the European stage of the qualifying with 4 teams in the Americas group and three in the world play-offs where the runner-up of the Americas group met the highest ranked teams from Asia/Pacific and Middle-East/Africa. Finals The Rugby League World Cup has followed a varied range of formats throughout its history as the number of teams participating has increased. The current format has been in use since the 2021 tournament, featuring 16 teams split into four groups of four. Two teams from each group qualify for the knockout stage. Each team is awarded two points for a win and one point for a draw. The eight teams in the quarter finals play each other with the four winners progressing to the semi finals before the World Cup Final. If the teams are level after 80 minutes extra time will be played and if the two teams are still level after extra time, a golden point will be played. Hosts Due to the early World Cups being contested between Australia, England, France and New Zealand and the fact rugby league is most popular in these regions they have regularly hosted the World Cup between themselves. World Cups in 1985–88 and 1989–92 were all jointly hosted by the four founding nations. New Zealand has never solely hosted a World Cup but they have co-hosted with Australia on three occasions with 2017 also jointly co-hosted with Papua New Guinea. England have co-hosted once with Wales in 2013 although the 2000 World Cup was played across the UK as well as some games in Ireland and France. France hosted the first World Cup in 1954 and again in 1972 as well as hosting games at the 2000 and 2013 World Cups. They are due to host the 2025 World Cup. Despite the World Cup mainly being hosted by England, Australia, France and New Zealand, countries such as UAE, South Africa and the USA and Canada have applied to host the tournament in the past. Co-hosted between confederation Stadiums In total, 81 stadiums have hosted world cup games over the 14 tournaments. Headingley Stadium in Leeds has hosted the