BBC appointed UK rights holder for Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 as host nation celebrates one year to go

With exactly one year to go until hosts England kick-off the opening match of the Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025, World Rugby has announced an exclusive UK broadcast rights partnership with the BBC. The multi-platform deal reflects the tournament’s ambition to broaden the relevance, reach and impact of the biggest-ever women’s rugby event and its stars.

• Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 celebrating one year to go
• Biggest-ever Women’s Rugby World Cup set for extensive live free-to-air coverage and digital programming in the UK
• The final qualifier for the tournament, WXV is also part of the exclusive UK rights deal
• Deal represents joint ambition to broaden the reach of the tournament and its stars

BBC Sport will broadcast live coverage of the tournament across linear channels, with every match also available to watch live on BBC iPlayer and the Sport website and app, delivering unparalleled coverage of the eight-city, nationwide celebration of women’s rugby, projecting rugby’s biggest stars to more people in the UK than ever before.

Live audio commentary will be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra. Fans will be able to listen to 5 Live coverage on BBC Sounds, DAB radio and the BBC Sport website. The exclusive coverage deal means there will also be content across BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland.

Hosts England are currently the number one ranked team in the world and have already qualified with ‘Red Roses fever’ set to sweep the host nation.

Nine other teams have also already qualified with the remaining six spots set to secure their ticket to Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 at WXV later this year.

As part of a transformative deal for women’s rugby, the BBC and World Rugby can also confirm that WXV will also be available on BBC iPlayer, the Sport website and app in the UK, creating a runway of content through to next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup.

World Rugby Chief Executive Alan Gilpin said: “We are delighted to be partnering with BBC Sport for Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 and WXV. The BBC is a massive champion of women’s rugby and women’s sport more broadly and with their multi-platform, diverse programming approach and regional reach, we look forward to making history together – the biggest, most accessible and record-breaking celebration of women’s rugby ever.”

Director of BBC Sport Alex Kay-Jelski added: “Next summer is set to be a huge moment for women’s sport and following coverage of WXV and the Women’s Six Nations Championship on the BBC we’re proud to bring audiences exclusive coverage of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 hosted in England. Big sporting moments have a unique ability to unify bringing people together and never more so when international competitions play out on home soil. And we cannot wait.”

Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 will start on 22 August with hosts England kicking off the competition at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light. The tournament’s 10th edition will be hosted across eight nationwide locations with the final at the iconic Twickenham Stadium in London on 27 September, 2025. World Rugby today announced  the kick-off times for the opening match and final two fixtures of the tournament with tickets on sale from 10:00 BST (GMT+1) on 24 September until 10:00 BST on 8 October.

BBC Sport’s rights portfolio also includes UEFA Women’s EURO 2025, Women’s Super League, the Olympic Games, The FA Cup, Wimbledon Championships, the Six Nations, the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. The BBC is a long-standing audio partner of the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups.