Qatar withdraws from hosting 2028 Nations Championship amid Middle East crisis
Qatar has withdrawn from hosting the finals of the 2028 Nations Championship and cancelled a planned title sponsorship with Qatar Airways, organisers said on 4 November 2026, citing uncertainty caused by the war in the Middle East. Both parties agreed to end an arrangement that would have covered a six-match final series in 2028 and 2032 and a four-edition title sponsorship.
Months of negotiations preceded the decision, with staging rights and the title sponsorship understood to have been worth around £80m to the Nations Championship for each tournament held in Qatar. The Six Nations and four leading Sanzaar unions who run the competition said they are confident replacement deals can recoup those funds. The Nations Championship resumes this weekend following last summer’s southern hemisphere matches, and this year’s finals are scheduled to be held over three days at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium at the end of the month.
This year’s inaugural competition will proceed without a title sponsor after Qatar declined to implement the agreement before the first series in July; the Qatar Airways element of the deal is understood to have been worth £15m of a package whose main value lay in hosting rights, so organisers expect the immediate financial write-off to be limited. France and Spain have already made informal expressions of interest in staging the 2028 finals, and the Nations Championship plans to issue an invitation to tender at the start of next year.
The United States has been pencilled in to host the finals in 2030 the year before staging the Rugby World Cup in 2031, while a 2028 finals event at the Stade de France is regarded as the most likely outcome at this stage. Organisers are considering replacement hosts alongside the tender process.
The outline of the Qatar deal was agreed last year, but Donald Trump’s decision to order US airstrikes on Iran in March and the subsequent escalation in the region complicated implementation. The Qatar government decided against putting the deal into effect before the first series in July because of sensitivities around the conflict, leaving the competition without a title sponsor though there had been hopes the agreement would begin this autumn. With the United States and Israel continuing to threaten further strikes on Iran despite peace talks hosted by Qatar last weekend, both parties reached a mutual agreement to cancel the deal.
Organisers said the war has curtailed Qatar’s sporting ambitions, as it has for Saudi Arabia and other neighbouring countries, and there remains uncertainty about a planned Formula One Grand Prix at the end of this month. This weekend’s Qatar MotoGP is scheduled to go ahead despite a boycott from several riders amid safety concerns, and the loss of a high-profile event planned for 2028 will represent another significant blow to the Emirate.
Despite the absence of a title sponsor, the Nations Championship is projected to be profitable in year one and to see significant growth in future years; TV rights deals are in place with over 80 broadcasters and 70% of the tickets for the finals weekend have been sold, with sellouts expected when fixtures are confirmed. Under the tournament’s new format, Six Nations teams played three away matches in the southern hemisphere last summer and will play three home games against the other Sanzaar nations plus Japan and Fiji over the next three weeks.
The competition’s finals will culminate at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday 29 November, when the top-ranked team from each region will meet in a grand final to determine the champions, with second playing second, third v third and so on across the same weekend.