Teams from Australia, New Zealand, England, Samoa, Tonga, Pacific Islands, France and Russia participated in the tournament.

For the tournament, the number of teams was reduced from eight to just four with Australia, New Zealand, England and France taking part.

The final was held at Headingley Stadium, Leeds and was contested by Australia and New Zealand.

Despite taking part in the previous two tournaments, France did not feature, making England the sole representative of Europe.

For the first time in the tournament's history, Canada would take part thus becoming the first team from North America to feature.

Canada performed well, beating Papua New Guinea and reaching the semi-finals, eventually losing 58–6 to Australia.

[6] Teams from England, France, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Canada and Brazil took part.

The inclusion of Brazil means a team from South America will take part in for the first time in any Rugby League World Cup.

The 2013 tournament saw a change in the format with the reductions of teams to four meant that there was only one group with the top two qualifying for the final.

The semi-final round will be brought back for this tournament with the bottom team of each group being eliminated at the first stage.

In the first two World Cups, the home nations competed as Great Britain just as they did in the men's equivalent tournament up to the expansion of the competition in 1995.