International Rugby League (IRL) chairman Troy Grant revealed today that the Gulf nation had expressed interest in hosting the event alongside New Zealand, South Africa and Fiji.

This is despite Qatar not having a rugby league team or featuring in the IRL world rankings.

The country is not thought to have ever played a competitive match in the sport and has no history or pedigree.

However, Grant said Qatar's location between the rugby league hotspots of England and Australia and New Zealand would be a positive.

The oil-rich country is also an enthusiastic host of sporting events and has excellent stadia having staged the 2022 FIFA World Cup last year.

IRL has been left searching for a new host of its flagship event in 2025 after France withdrew, saying it could not guarantee the economic viability of the tournament.

It could yet opt to delay the event to 2026 or cancel it entirely.

"The attractiveness of Qatar would be in their financial capability to meet the costs of a tournament of our size and scale," said Grant.

"Their stadia is first-class and that has been proven with the FIFA World Cup having recently been held there successfully.

"The close proximity of stadia and the less travel required, even compared to the World Cup in England for example, would be massively advantageous regarding costs."

Grant said holding the event in a small country would be like the Magic Weekend concepts held in England and Australia, which see several teams descend on one city for a number of matches over two days.

"We're not wedded to anything to be honest with you," he said.

"We are that old saying, 'beggars can't be choosers'".

Last year's FIFA World Cup prompted numerous questions on Qatar's human rights record, in particular the treatment of women and LGBT people, which Grant said would be considered.

"We would need to undertake due diligence on human rights because our ability to have a Women’s World Cup as well as wheelchair would be crucial," he said.

The heat in Qatar and filling the venues would be other issues if the country is announced as host.

New Zealand Rugby League said yesterday that they would be interested in hosting in 2025 with Australia.

Neither South Africa or Fiji has ever hosted before.

French organisers pulled out after the country's Government asked for a guarantee for the risk of loss for the event in order to support it.

They said a "difficult" decision was taken to avoid threatening the "robustness" of the "major international sporting event models that France now wishes to promote".

The 2025 World Cup has now lost its host twice as a combined North American effort was axed due to financial concerns in 2018.