Wales Rugby League Women will face Netherlands, Turkey and Greece in pursuit of a first ever appearance at a World Cup.

The Welsh women have never faced any of their opponents before, but are the highest ranked team in the group and know that a top two finish in group A will guarantee a place in France in 2025.

2022 saw success for the Welsh women in European B Championship (North), overcoming both Italy and Ireland to claim the title. The Greeks won the European B Championship (South) last year, getting the better of fellow group A opponents Turkey in the process.

“I’m really excited,”said head coach, Tom Brindle. “It’s great that we’ve got three nations that we’ve not played before.

“We always wanted to test ourselves and improve towards the 2025 World Cup. Greece were one of the teams we’d have liked to play because they won the equivalent competition as us last year.

“We’ve got a clear plan that started when we played England a few years ago and takes us through to 2025.  We’re into phase two of that and the first step is qualifying.

"We’ve got to incrementally get better over the next couple of years and test ourselves against the best.”

Group B sees Ireland, Italy, Malta and Serbia battle it out for a place at the World Cup.

Dates for the fixtures will be confirmed in due course.