2026 RFL Championship
| 2026 Betfred Championship | |
|---|---|
| Duration | January – October 2026 |
| Teams | 20 |
| Points scored | 1,456 |
| Highest attendance | 4,380 London Broncos v Widnes Vikings (18 January) |
| Lowest attendance | 332 Midlands Hurricanes v Doncaster (1 February) |
| Total attendance | 28,020 |
| Biggest home win | London Broncos 106–18 North Wales Crusaders (28 February) |
| Biggest away win | Swinton Lions 6–84 London Broncos (22 February) |
| Top point-scorer | Jimmy Meadows (78) |
| Top try-scorer | Morea Morea (8) |
The 2026 RFL Championship (officially known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league club competition. The second tier of the British rugby league system comprises 20 clubs - this is due to the Rugby Football League (RFL) announcing that the Championship and League One competitions were to be combined for the 2026 season.[1]
Team changes
Due to the merging of the third tier League One with the Championship into one competition, the Championship increased from 13 clubs to 21 for the 2026 season.[2].
The clubs joining the Championship from League One are:
- Dewsbury Rams
- Goole Vikings
- Keighley Cougars
- Midlands Hurricanes
- Newcastle Thunder
- North Wales Crusaders
- Rochdale Hornets
- Swinton Lions
- Whitehaven
- Workington Town
If the two divisions had not been merged, North Wales would have been promoted to the Championship anyway as winners of the 2025 RFL League One season.[3]
On 16 October 2025 the Bradford Bulls were to be promoted to the Super League and were replaced by the Salford Red Devils. Salford were relegated from Super League via the IMG grading system, as was Bradford's elevation.[4] The following day the two teams joining the Super League as a result of its expansion to 14 teams[5] were announced. Toulouse Olympique and the York Knights were promoted via an independent panel.[6]
On 3 December 2025, Salford was liquidated as a result of unpaid debts to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), and as a result had their membership with the RFL terminated, and would no longer compete in the Championship.[7] The RFL hoped that a phoenix club could be created to contest the fixtures, with Salford having until 11 December to submit a viable proposal with a decision scheduled for 17 December.[8][9] On 17 December, the timeline was extended.[10] On 22 December, a phoenix club was approved to complete in the 2026 Championship.[11][12]
Featherstone Rovers went into administration in December 2025 and as no satisfactory bid to take over the club emerged by the week before the start of the season, the RFL removed the club from the 2026 season.[13] Further complications arose when Halifax Panthers were wound-up following non-payment of monies due to HMRC on 9 February 2026.[14] The Panthers' membership of the RFL, and therefore the club's permission to participate in the Championship, was withdrawn on 11 February.[15] On 3 March, the RFL granted membership to a new Halifax Panthers club who re-joined the Championship with a 12-point deduction.[16]
Fixtures format
The growth from 13 to an originally-planned 21 teams required the development of a new fixture scheduling format, with 40 fixtures deemed far too many for the calendar.[17] A new format, described as a 'pendulum system', was devised, to retain 24 fixtures as in the previous Championship season. To allocate 20 of the fixtures per club, teams play two matches, home and away, against the 10 clubs that finished closest to them in the previous season.[18]
For example, London Broncos, having finished 10th in the 2025 Championship, will play the teams who finished: 5th to 9th and 11th to 13th in the 2025 Championship; and 1st and 2nd in the 2025 League One. Salford, the highest-ranked team having been relegated from the Super League in 2025, will play the 10 teams who finished 3rd to 12th in the 2025 Championship (clubs in 1st and 2nd having been promoted to the 2026 Super League), while Newcastle Thunder, the lowest-ranked team having finished 10th in 2025 League One, will play the nine teams from the 2025 League One plus the 13th placed team from the 2025 Championship.[18]
The final four fixtures are home and away ties against two teams, primarily based on ensuring local derby matches could take place, and then filling up the fixture list to minimise overall travel.[18] These games only include matches between teams that were not previously scheduled: for example, the three most northerly teams - Whitehaven, Workington and Newcastle - were already due to play each other, and so did not have extra games scheduled between them. Rather, all three were given games against the Cumbrian team Barrow,[18] with Workington being drawn against Widnes, Whitehaven against Sheffield and Newcastle against Batley.
After Featherstone withdrew, a new round of replacement fixtures were announced for the clubs due to have played Featherstone.[19] This reverted a decision to not schedule new fixtures, which would have shifted the table to being decided by win percentage rather than competition points.[20] No further information regarding the Championship structure was given at this time other than the postponement of the Halifax game against Sheffield scheduled for 15 February.[21]
Clubs
Stadiums and locations
25miles
- ^ a b Not graded as required information was not submitted to the RFL on time
- ^ Oldham are currently playing at Bower Fold due to a dispute over their use of Boundary Park
- ^ Position achieved by a previous iteration of the club
Regular season
Results
Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London Broncos | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 301 | 48 | +253 | 10 | League Leaders Shield and qualify for Qualifying Finals |
| 2 | Widnes Vikings | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 166 | 130 | +36 | 10 | Qualifying Finals |
| 3 | Barrow Raiders | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 134 | 36 | +98 | 8 | Qualifying Semi-Finals |
| 4 | Doncaster | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 169 | 74 | +95 | 8 | |
| 5 | Sheffield Eagles | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 46 | +55 | 8 | |
| 6 | Midlands Hurricanes | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 134 | 138 | −4 | 7 | |
| 7 | Newcastle Thunder | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 166 | 88 | +78 | 6 | Eliminators |
| 8 | Dewsbury Rams | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 102 | 96 | +6 | 6 | |
| 9 | Rochdale Hornets | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 82 | 138 | −56 | 6 | |
| 10 | Keighley Cougars | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 134 | 94 | +40 | 5 | |
| 11 | Oldham | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 104 | 63 | +41 | 4 | |
| 12 | Batley Bulldogs | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 118 | 96 | +22 | 4 | |
| 13 | Goole Vikings | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 114 | 184 | −70 | 4 | |
| 14 | North Wales Crusaders | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 126 | 206 | −80 | 4 | |
| 15 | Workington Town | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 92 | 108 | −16 | 3 | |
| 16 | Whitehaven | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 64 | 171 | −107 | 3 | |
| 17 | Hunslet | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 114 | 111 | +3 | 2 | |
| 18 | Salford | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 53 | 230 | −177 | 2 | |
| 19 | Swinton Lions | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 70 | 260 | −190 | 0 | |
| 20 | Halifax Panthers | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 44 | 71 | −27 | −10[a] |
Notes:
Play-offs
A 10 team play-off structure based on the McIntyre system which allows higher qualified teams to lose more games before being eliminated compared to lower qualified teams was introduced for this year.[23]
Team bracket
| Qualifying Semi-Finals and Eliminators | Qualifying and Elimination Finals | Sudden Death Play-Offs | Preliminary Finals | Grand Final | |||||||||||||||||||
| QSF1 | QF1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Highest ranked winner of QSF1&2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| QSF2 | QF2 | SD1 | PF1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | 2 | Highest ranked loser of QF1&2 | Highest ranked winner of QF1&2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | - | Lowest ranked winner of QSF1&2 | Lowest ranked winner of EF1&2 | Lowest ranked winner of SD1&2 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranked winner of PF1&2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| E1 | EF1 | SD2 | PF2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Lowest ranked winner of PF1&2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Highest ranked loser of QSF1&2 | Lowest ranked loser of QF1&2 | Lowest ranked winner of QF1&2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Lowest ranked winner of E1&2 | Highest ranked winner of EF1&2 | Highest ranked winner of SD1&2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| E2 | EF2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Lowest ranked loser of QSF1&2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Highest ranked winner of E1&2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Player statistics
Top 10 try scorers
| Rank | Player (s) | Club | Tries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morea Morea | London Broncos | 8 |
| 2 | Cory Aston | Doncaster RLFC | 7 |
| Finley Glare | London Broncos | ||
| Cody Hunter | Newcastle Thunder | ||
| Greg Eden | North Wales Crusaders | ||
| 6 | Edene Gebbie | Doncaster RLFC | 6 |
| Matty Fleming | Widnes Vikings | ||
| 8 | Connor Barley | Goole Vikings | 5 |
| Bureta Faraimo | Hunslet RLFC | ||
| Liam Tindall | London Broncos | ||
| Brad Ward | Newcastle Thunder | ||
| TJ Boyd | Rochdale Hornets | ||
| Jake Dickinson | Workington Town |
Top 10 goal scorers
| Rank | Player (s) | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jimmy Meadows | London Broncos | 31 |
| 2 | Matty Beharrell | Keighley Cougars | 22 |
| 3 | Jordan Abdull | Widnes Vikings | 20 |
| 4 | Jacob Hookem | Dewsbury Rams | 18 |
| 5 | Brad Walker | Barrow Raiders | 17 |
| Connor Robinson | Doncaster RLFC | ||
| 7 | Jack Miller | Goole Vikings | 16 |
| 8 | Jack Smith | Newcastle Thunder | 14 |
| Kieran Dixon | Oldham RLFC | ||
| 10 | Billy Jowitt | Hunslet RLFC | 13 |
Top 10 point scorers
| Rank | Player (s) | Club | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jimmy Meadows | London Broncos | 78 |
| 2 | Matty Beharrell | Keighley Cougars | 48 |
| 3 | Kieran Dixon | Oldham RLFC | 40 |
| Jordan Abdull | Widnes Vikings | ||
| 5 | Cory Aston | Doncaster RLFC | 39 |
| 6 | Connor Robinson | 38 | |
| 7 | Jacob Hookem | Dewsbury Rams | 36 |
| Jack Miller | Goole Vikings | ||
| 9 | Brad Walker | Barrow Raiders | 34 |
| Billy Jowitt | Hunslet RLFC | ||
| 11 | Morea Morea | London Broncos | 32 |
As of 9 March 2026[24]
Discipline
Yellow cards
| Rank | Player (s) | Club | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Coates | Dewsbury Rams | 2 |
| 2 | Felix Ellis | Batley Bulldogs | 1 |
| Bradley Graham | Dewsbury Rams | ||
| Jacob Parkinson | |||
| Luke Briscoe | Doncaster | ||
| Brett Ferres | Goole Vikings | ||
| Zak Lloyd | Hunslet | ||
| Lachlan Lanskey | Keighley Cougars | ||
| Epel Kapinias | London Broncos | ||
| Josh Eaves | North Wales Crusaders | ||
| Jordy Gibson | |||
| Brad Dwyer | Salford | ||
| Deane Meadows | Swinton Lions | ||
| George Roby |
As of 9 March 2026[25]
Notes
References
- ^ "New format outside Betfred Super League in 2026". 27 August 2025.
- ^ "Rugby league's second and third tiers to merge". 27 August 2025.
- ^ "North Wales Crusaders aim for Super League with 'sustainable' mantra". BBC Sport. 8 September 2025.
- ^ "Salford Red Devils relegated from Super League after grading announcement". 16 October 2025.
- ^ "Super League to expand to 14 teams from 2026". 28 July 2025.
- ^ "Toulouse Olympique and York Knights give Super League golden ticket as London Broncos miss out". 17 October 2025.
- ^ "Salford Red Devils: Troubled ex-Super League club wound up by High Court". BBC Sport. 3 December 2025.
- ^ McAllister, Josh (8 December 2025). "RFL confirm bids to relaunch Salford with decision deadlines set". All Out Rugby League.
- ^ Bower, Aaron (8 December 2025). "Major Salford Red Devils update as deadline passes for ownership". Love Rugby League.
- ^ McAllister, Josh (17 December 2025). "Salford Red Devils decision pushed back as RFL talks continue". All Out Rugby League.
- ^ "Salford Red Devils: RFL give new side Championship membership". BBC Sport. 22 December 2025. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
- ^ "Salford rugby league team granted entry into the 2026 Championship under new consortium led by Mason Caton-Brown". Sky Sports. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
- ^ "Featherstone Rovers removed from Championship by RFL". Total RL. 9 January 2026. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
- ^ "Halifax Panthers plunged into uncertainty after High Court ruling". Yorkshire Post. 9 February 2026. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
- ^ "Halifax Panthers' membership of RFL removed". Total RL. 11 February 2026. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
- ^ "Halifax Panthers: Championship club regain RFL membership after liquidation". BBC Sport. 3 March 2026. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
- ^ Bower, Aaron. "Championship CEO confirms 2026 structure and admits 'no perfect solution' to 21-team league". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
- ^ a b c d Bower, Aaron. "How every Championship team's fixture list will look in 2026 with new-look seeding structure". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
- ^ "RFL add new Championship fixtures after Featherstone Rovers exit". Total RL. 20 January 2026. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
- ^ Olawumi, Ben (9 January 2026). "Featherstone Rovers axed from Championship amid financial woes as second tier re-jigged". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
- ^ "Three consortiums in line for Halifax Panthers takeover bid". Total RL. 11 February 2026. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
- ^ "RFL approves Halifax Panthers membership and 2026 Betfred Championship entry". RFL. 3 March 2026. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
- ^ "Play-Off System Confirmed for Betfred Championship". RFL. 16 January 2026. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
- ^ "2026 Betfred Championship". Rugby League Project.
- ^ "Rugby League Project". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 25 February 2026.