Opening & closing venues confirmed for RWC 2025
Sunderland’s Stadium of Light will play host to the opening match of the Women's Rugby World Cup 2025, and Twickenham Stadium will look to set a new attendance record at the final.
With women’s rugby breaking new ground on and off the pitch, up to 49,000 fans from the North East of England and beyond will have a golden opportunity to watch the world’s number one ranked team, the Red Roses, in action on the evening of Friday 22 August 2025, as they kick off the tenth edition of the event, which has been expanded to 16 teams.
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Twickenham’s hosting of the final on Saturday 27 September 2025 will be a symbolic and fitting finale to a tournament that aims to capture hearts and headlines around the world, galvanising the next generation of fans, players and partners around one of sport’s most exciting spectacles.
"Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 will be a generational moment for rugby," said World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont. "The biggest, most accessible and most widely-viewed, its unstoppable momentum will reach, engage and inspire new audiences in ways that rugby events have not done before.
"The selection of Sunderland for the opening match underscores that mission. We want this to be a sports event that everyone is talking about, that everyone wants to be a part of and one that inspires young people to be a part of."
For the first time ever, the expanded showcase event will be hosted across eight venues and cities around the country with 16 teams competing to be crowned world champions. The countrywide format makes it the most accessible Women’s Rugby World Cup ever, offering an unparalleled opportunity across the five-week schedule for fans to see, engage with and support the stars of the women’s game in towns and cities around England.
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60 young women’s and girls’ players from Sunderland got the unique opportunity to be coached by Red Roses’ transition coach and the world’s most-capped women’s player, Sarah Hunter at the Stadium of Light to mark the occasion.
She added: "The Red Roses opening game of the tournament at the Stadium of Light will be an amazing experience for the players and fans and having witnessed the electric atmosphere of almost sixty thousand watching the Red Roses at Twickenham earlier this year, I’ve every confidence it will sell out for the final."
