Host selection

France was awarded Rugby World Cup 2023 by the World Rugby Council on 15 November, 2017 following two rounds of voting at its interim meeting in London. France received 24 votes to South Africa’s 15 in the final round of voting. In the first round, France had received 18 votes to South Africa’s 13 and Ireland’s eight.

VENUES

RWC 2023 matches will be played in nine stadiums across 10 host cities in France, from Lille in the north to Marseille in the south with tournament organisers wanting to capture the passion for rugby across the nation, as shown in the video opposite, released for the "3 years to go" milestone in 2020. This is highlighted by the fact that 80 per cent of the French population will be within two hours of a match venue.

Eight of the cities also hosted matches when France welcomed the world for Rugby World Cup 2007 with Lille and Nice the new locations for 2023. While some of the stadiums will be on the Rugby World Cup stage again, there are new venues in Bordeaux and Lyon from those used for France 2007.

The capacity of the nine stadiums for Rugby World Cup 2023 range from 33,150 for Stadium de Toulouse up to 80,056 for the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.