Club World Cup set to start in 2028 - reports

Negotiations between stakeholders have cleared a path for a 16-team Club World Cup to bring the best sides from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres together starting in 2028, multiple media reports said on Tuesday.

Making room for the quadrennial tournament will require calendar changes to leagues in Europe and Australasia but the desire to get it going means adjustments to carve out a four-week June window had been agreed, the reports said.

The top eight teams from Europe's Champions Cup, which also includes South African sides, would qualify along with the best six Super Rugby Pacific outfits and two other clubs, probably from Japan.

Qualification would be meritocratic, the reports said, meaning some major rugby-playing nations could be unrepresented if their teams were not performing well.