Twickenham has been named among eight venues across England to host the women’s 2025 Rugby World Cup.

Sandy Park in Exeter, Salford Community Stadium in Manchester and Franklin’s Gardens in Northampton are all chosen.

Brighton’s Amex Stadium, Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, the York Community Stadium and Bristol’s dual-purpose Ashton Gate are the football grounds.

The tournament will run from 22 August until 27 September 2025.

Sunderland’s Stadium of Light is the second biggest venue behind Twickenham with a capacity of 49,000.

The record overall attendance figure at a women’s Rugby World Cup was in New Zealand in 2021, when more than 140,000 fans attended games.

The total attendance in 2017 was 45,412.

The number of teams will also increase from 12 to 16, with schedule and ticketing information set to be released in 2024.

England, New Zealand, France and Canada have already qualified, while the remaining participants will be determined by their positioning in World Rugby’s new annual WXV tournament and regional competitions.

Sue Day, the RFU’s chief operating oOfficer and chief finance officer, said the spread of venues would give potential new fans “the chance to be inspired by world-class sporting action.”

“It’s access to tournaments like these that can light a spark in people, and we hope it will encourage a new generation of people to give rugby a try for themselves,” said Day.