Australia and New Zealand likely to host Fiji’s 2028 home matches

Fiji's national rugby team, the Fiji Water Flying Fijians, may play their 2028 home matches in Australia and New Zealand, according to Fiji Rugby Union CEO Koli Sewabu. The United States was initially considered but ruled out due to visa bond requirements.

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This year and 2028, we’ve been given neutral venues to decide, so we choose and decide where that is.

Sewabu explained that Fiji has been granted neutral venues for the 2028 Nations Championship. "We also have Australia and New Zealand, not Fiji yet, because we don’t have the facility to cater for that," he stated. The long-term dream is to build a stadium in Fiji by 2030, allowing the team to host matches in Suva and play in front of their home crowd.

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The U.S is out of the question. We’re glad we didn’t take the games there – initially because that was part of the plan.

For the inaugural Nations Championship kicking off in July, Fiji's matches will be held in the United Kingdom. The team will face Wales at Cardiff City Stadium, England at Hill Dickinson Stadium, and Scotland at Murrayfield Stadium. Sewabu expressed gratitude for securing these venues, noting the large capacities that allow for significant fan attendance.

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We also have Australia and New Zealand, not Fiji yet, because we don’t have the facility to cater for that.

"This year – because we’ve never done it before, we looked at so many other factors around it, and apart from just rugby and fan engagement and attendance, we see the United Kingdom is a really good opportunity," Sewabu said. He highlighted the success of early ticket sales for the England match, with over 50% of the 50,000-plus seats sold within the first week.

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Hopefully, if we can have a stadium by 2030, then we should be able to host them in London, in Suva, wherever the stadium they will be. And that’s the dream, to bring them home and play them here in front of our people.