International Rugby League (IRL) said its Board would meet on Wednesday (May 17) to "consider options" after the shock announcement concerning the event in two years' time.

Organisers claimed the French Government had demanded a "guarantee for the risk of loss for the event" in order to provide support for holding it.

This could not be fulfilled, which forced the withdrawal. 

It meant the "conditions initially set to secure the economic viability of the event were not met", despite the Government offering organisers extra time to find a solution and funding.

The men's, women's and wheelchair World Cups were all due to be held simultaneously in France.

This is the second time that the 2025 tournament has lost its host - as a combined North American effort was axed due to financial concerns in 2018.

IRL chairman Troy Grant said he had conveyed his disappointment to the French Government directly.

"It's difficult to express how disappointed I am with this news," he said.

"There's no secret as to how important the strengthening of France as a rugby league nation is to our global game and central to our strategic plans. 

"The Rugby League World Cup in France in 2025 was always an ambitious project given the unprecedented short lead-in time due to the pandemic, however it had the advantage of following and leveraging off the widely acknowledged 2021 success. 

"Despite the historically short lead-in period, Luc Lacoste and his Organising Committee worked tirelessly and achieved so much in a short time.

"Luc has brought a renewed zest and interest to French Rugby League during his tenure and the World Cup was planned to be the springboard for further development of the sport in France.  

"The factors that impacted on the bid team's ability to complete the early structure of the tournament, such as the economic crisis and, in particular, inflationary pressure on host town council budgets, undermined their ability to secure adequate securities for the event to satisfy the Government's strict conditional benchmarks, put forward from the beginning of the process, for the tournament to proceed. 

"The French Government, particularly the Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, supported the bid team financially and granted additional time to meet benchmarks given the interruptions and obstacles that were put in their way that were out of their control. 

"I respect the French Government's decision amid the challenges they are facing but I can't hide my disappointment, that I conveyed clearly to them in person.  

"Despite our focus having been on France, we will now accelerate our consideration of other contingency options." 

France has hosted the men's World Cup twice before, the first edition in 1954 and then again in 1972.

IRL said it planned to advise countries about planned qualifying matches or alternative fixtures after a meeting in July.

"The Board meets face to face in July and we will then be able to determine together our next steps forward and consider the other bids we have received for not only 2025, but 2029, 2033 and World Cup 9s events in the future," Grant added.

"Exciting international content for 2023 and 2024, in addition to the recent historic Tongan tour to England, will be announced publicly shortly, which will be the front end of our much needed and highly anticipated calendar."  

France had been named as the preferred bidder for the 2025 tournament in 2021, after the North American effort pulled out.

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

"Luc Lacoste takes note of the decision taken by the Board of Directors of the France 2025 Organising Committee on which the state sits, concluding that the project to organise the World Cup which was to be held in France autumn 2025 has been cancelled," a statement from the French Rugby League Federation (FFR XIII) said.

"He also indicates, recalling that the Organising Committee is independent of the Federation, that as President of the FFR XIII, he will meet in the week the Management Committee to share with them his intentions in the face of this situation."