[1] In March 2017, the RLIF confirmed that the 8 quarter-finalists from the 2017 World Cup would receive automatic qualification to the 2021 tournament, along with details of how many slots each region will be allocated: "Seven teams will be qualified from Europe, six from the Asia-Pacific, two from the Americas, and one from a play-off series hosted in Middle East/Africa.
France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales all failed to reach the quarter finals of the 2017 World Cup.
With the World Cup expanding to 16 teams in 2021, one extra European slot was available in comparison to the 2017 tournament.
It was scheduled for October and November 2019 and consisted of Ireland, Scotland, Serbia[a], Spain, Greece and Italy.
The Americas group comprised four teams and was played as a single elimination knock-out tournament.