The Rugby Football League Championship, is the second highest tier of rugby league in Britain .
Introduced in 2003 as National League One, it replaced the existing Second Division. It was rebranded as the Championship in 2009.
Until the end of the 2025 season the league consisted of 13 or 14 teams, with the winner decided by a playoff. Prior to the 2026 season, the Championship and the third division, League One, were merged into a single second tier below Super League.
London Broncos were winners of the 2026 season after beating Doncaster in the Championship Grand Final.
History
1902–1973: Establishment and regular competition Second division rugby league competitions have been played at various times since 1902, and have been in place annually since 1973. When Super League began in 1996, the second division continued to operate a system of promotion and relegation with the new competition. In 1999, the second-tier competition below the Super League was renamed the Northern Ford Premiership (NFP) when Northern Ford Dealers acquired the naming rights.
2002–2008: National Leagues In 2003, the NFP was re-organised into National Leagues One and Two. Teams that finished in the top ten league positions of the 2002 Northern Ford Premiership joined National League One and the bottom eight joined National League Two. They were joined by London Skolars from the Rugby League Conference, who entered National League Two, and York City Knights, who replaced the defunct York Wasps (who had folded mid-season in 2002) and also joined National League Two in 2003, creating two ten-team leagues which operated a system of promotion and relegation between themselves while also maintaining the promotion and relegation between National League One and Super League.
At the same time, National League Three was created with teams from the Rugby League Conference and from the British Amateur Rugby League Association amateur leagues. It was intended that there would be promotion and relegation between National League Two and National League Three when League Three became more established, however this never eventuated.
2009–2014: Championship In 2009 Super League was expanded to 14 teams, with two additional teams being promoted from National League One. In turn, two additional teams were promoted from National League Two to National League One at the end of the 2008 season, reducing the number of teams in National League Two to 10. National Leagues One and Two were then rebranded as the Championship and Championship 1 respectively, with the change being implemented in time for the 2009 season. Championship 1 was later rebranded to League 1. During this period, a system of licensing was put in place which meant there was no automatic system of promotion and relegation between the Championship and Super League, although promotion and relegation continued between the Championship and League 1. Widnes Vikings were promoted to Super League from the Championship via the licensing system in 2011.
The record crowd for a club game at this level of competition was set in 2017 at KCOM Craven Park for the opening fixture of the season between Hull Kingston Rovers and Bradford Bulls with Rovers winning 54–24 in front of a crowd of 8,817. The crowd record for regular season attendance was also broken in 2008 with an average of 2,205 spectators at each game.
2015–2018: Super 8s
In 2013, Super League clubs agreed to reduce the number of clubs in the competition to 12 and return to an amended system of promotion and relegation with a 12-club Championship competition. These changes came into effect for the 2015 season.Super League to become a 12-team competition from 2015. Superleague.co.uk (11 July 2013). Retrieved on 20 August 2013.
Under the amended structure, the 12 Super League and 12 Championship clubs play a regular season of 23 rounds, including a Magic Weekend for both divisions. Following the conclusion of their regular league seasons, the 24 clubs then compete in a play-off series where they split into 3 divisions of 8 based upon league position: The bottom 4 Super League clubs and the top 4 Championship clubs compete in The Qualifiers. They play each other once (either home or away) to determine which four of the clubs will compete in Super League the following year. The remaining (bottom 8) Championship clubs compete for the Championship Shield and to avoid relegation to League 1. Two clubs will be relegated each year.
2019–2023: Return of playoffs On 14 September 2018, an EGM was called to discuss the future of the sport and a change in structure, as the clubs were in favour of scrapping the Super 8s in favour of a more conventional structure. Two proposals were put forward: one by Super League and one by the Championship and League 1;
Super League proposal: The Super League proposed staying with 12 teams who play each other home and away plus Magic Weekend and 6 loop fixtures (29 games). They also proposed a return to a top-5 playoff and the 12th placed team being relegated.
Championship & League 1 proposal: The alternative proposal was that Super League would expand to 14 clubs playing 29 games ending with a top-5 playoff. The team finishing 14th would be relegated and 13th would play 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Championship in a relegation playoff.
After a vote, the Super League proposal was voted through was implemented for the 2019 season. The Championship clubs then voted for a top 5 playoff being used to decide which team will be promoted to Super League.
2024–2025: Introduction of grading
From 2024 there was no automatic promotion from the Championship to Super League. Membership of Super League was determined entirely by IMG grading.
The grading system made no effect on the make-up of Super League for 2025 as the Championship winners, Wakefield Trinity, were placed 8th in the grading list - so would have been promoted under the previous system. The 2025 season saw Bradford Bulls and two other highest rated IMG clubs promoted to the Betfred Super League York Knights and Toulouse Olympique. Salford Red Devils were relegated to the Championship.
2026: merger with League One At the end of 2025 the Championship was merged with League One into a 21 team division. In early January 2026 Featherstone Rovers were ejected from the Rugby Football League due to the club being in an extended period of administration reducing the number of clubs in the league to 20. By the start of the season at the end of January, there was no decision on whether there would be any automatic promotion and relegation between Super League and the Championship or whether entry to Super league is entirely on IMG grading. The 2026 Championship features a play-off system between the top ten clubs, details of which were released on 16 January.
Clubs
Championship clubs Colours Club Established Location Stadium Capacity* Barrow Raiders 1875 Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria Craven Park 6,000 Batley Bulldogs 1880 Batley, West Yorkshire Mount Pleasant 7,500 Birmingham Hurricanes 1998 Birmingham, West Midlands Avery Fields 1,500 Dewsbury Rams 1898 Dewsbury, West Yorkshire Crown Flatt 5,100 Doncaster 1951 Doncaster, South Yorkshire Eco-Power Stadium 15,231 Goole Vikings 2018 Goole, East Yorkshire Victoria Pleasure Grounds 3,000 Halifax Panthers 1873 Halifax, West Yorkshire The Shay 14,000 Hunslet 1973 Leeds, West Yorkshire South Leeds Stadium 4,000 Keighley Cougars 1876 Keighley, West Yorkshire Cougar Park 7,800 London Broncos 1980 Wimbledon, London Plough Lane 9,215 Newcastle Thunder 2000 Swalwell, Tyne and Wear Crow Trees Ground 2000 North Wales Crusaders 2011 Colwyn Bay, Conwy Eirias Stadium 5,500 Oldham 1876 Oldham, Greater Manchester Boundary Park 13,513 Rochdale Hornets 1871 Rochdale, Greater Manchester Spotland Stadium 10,249 Salford 1873 Barton-upon-Irwell, Greater Manchester Salford Community Stadium 11,404 Sheffield Eagles 1984 Sheffield, South Yorkshire Steel City Stadium 3,000 Swinton Lions 1866 Sale, Greater Manchester Heywood Road 3,387 Whitehaven 1948 Whitehaven, Cumbria Recreation Ground 8,603 Widnes Vikings 1875 Widnes, Cheshire Halton Stadium 13,500 Workington Town 1945 Workington, Cumbria Derwent Park 10,000
Seat capacity for other sports, concerts and events may differ.
Structure Regular season As envisaged for the 2026 competition, there are 20 clubs in the Championship. During the course of the season (usually from January to September) each club plays 12 home games, and 12 away games. Each club will play 12 teams in one season, 10 of which will be determined by league position from the previous season, while the remaining two teams will be determined based on local rivalries and geographic proximity.
Teams receive two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss.
Teams are ranked by competition points, then points difference (points scored less points conceded), then points scored. The team finishing top at the end of the regular season is awarded the League Leaders Shield.
The 2026 season was affected by the exclusion of Featherstone Rovers after the fixture list had been published. Initially, rather than re-arrange all fixtures, the games that would have involved Featherstone were vacated and those clubs scheduled to play Featherstone would play two games fewer. The Championship table would have been ranked on win percentage. This decision was reversed and replacement fixtures were scheduled for clubs that had been due to play Featherstone. As a result, all clubs will still play 24 matches and competition points will decide the table rather than win percentage.
Play-offs The play-offs have had various formats. Currently once every club has played all 24 games, the top ten teams qualify for the playoffs.
The 2026 play-offs will begin on the first weekend of September, and will conclude with the Grand Final, in the first weekend of October.
Results
The champions of the Championship are determined by a playoff series at the end of the regular season. The team at the top of the league table at the end of regular season is awarded the League Leaders’ Shield. This has been the case for all but the four seasons of the Super 8s era where the league leaders were declared Champions and promotion was determined by The Qualifiers.
YearChampionsScoreRunners upRelegated 2003 Salford 31–14 Leigh Dewsbury 2004 Leigh 32–16 Keighley 2005 Castleford 36–8 Barrow 2006 Hull Kingston Rovers 29–16 Widnes Oldham York 2007 Castleford 42–10 Widnes Rochdale Doncaster 2008 Salford 36–18 Crusaders Dewsbury 2009 Barrow 26–18 Halifax Doncaster Gateshead 2010 Halifax 23–22 Featherstone Keighley Whitehaven 2011 Featherstone 40–4 Sheffield Barrow Toulouse 2012 Sheffield 20–16 Featherstone None 2013 Sheffield 19–12 Batley York Hunslet 2014 Leigh 36–12 Featherstone Barrow Swinton Rochdale, North Wales Keighley 2015 LeighN/A Bradford Doncaster Hunslet 2016 Leigh London Workington Whitehaven 2017 Hull Kingston Rovers London Oldham Bradford 2018 Toronto London None 2019 Toronto 24–6 Featherstone Barrow Rochdale 2020colspan=4. Leigh elevated to Super League 2021 Toulouse 34–12 Featherstone Oldham Swinton 2022 Leigh 44–12 Batley Dewsbury Workington 2023 London 18–14 Toulouse Keighley Newcastle 2024 Wakefield 36–0 Toulouse Swinton Whitehaven Dewsbury 2025 Toulouse 10–8 York NoneYearChampionsScoreRunners upBottom 2026 London 78-6 Doncaster North Wales
Winners ClubWinsrunners upWinning years1 Leigh Leopards51 2004, 2014, 2015, 2016, 20222 London Broncos23 2023, 20263 Toulouse Olympique22021, 20254 Sheffield Eagles1 2012, 20135 Salford Red Devils0 2003, 2008 Castleford Tigers 2005, 2007 Hull Kingston Rovers 2006, 2017 Toronto Wolfpack 2018, 20196 Featherstone Rovers15 20117 Halifax Panthers120108 Barrow Raiders0 2009 Wakefield Trinity 20249 Whitehaven02 – Widnes Vikings Batley Bulldogs10 Crusaders 1 Bradford Bulls York Knights
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