The 2026 Women's Challenge Cup (sponsored as the Betfred Women's Challenge Cup) was the 14th staging of the Rugby Football League's cup competition for women's rugby league clubs. defeated 54–6 in the final to retain the title.
Format The competition had a similar format to 2025 although the withdrawal of meant the competition was reduced from 12 to 11 teams.
The draw for the group stage saw three groups of three competing in a single round robin with the matches to be played over three consecutive weekends in April 2026 from which the group winners and runners-up advanced to the knockout rounds. The fourth group has only two teams, both of which advanced to the quarter-finals following a single match to determine home advantage for the next round. The quarter-finals were played on the last weekend in April. The semi-finals took place on the weekend of 9/10 May 2026, and the final was played at Wembley Stadium, London, on 30 May 2026 alongside the final of the men's competition.
, winners in 2025, were seeded together with , and York Valkyrie. These four were drawn in different groups in the group stage. The draw for the group stages was made on 12 January.The groups were drawn as follows: + Groups Group A Group B Group C Group DCatalans Dragons Cardiff DemonsYork Valkyrie
Group stage The fixture list for the group stage was announced on 28 January 2026. + Group stage: week oneGroupHomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance B 0–82 4 April, 12:00 Sutton Park L. Breheny C 6–78 4 April, 13:00 Post Office Road A 14–44 5 April, 14:00 Laund Hill Source:
+ Group stage: week twoGroupHomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance C 76–6 Cardiff Demons 11 April, 14:00 Edge Hall Road Community Stadium L. Breheny A 24–22 Catalans Dragons 12 April, 13:00 Laund Hill D York Valkyrie 54–12 12 April, 13:30 York Community Stadium B 20–8 12 April, 14;00 The Hazelwood Centre Source:
+ Group stage: week threeGroupHomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance C Cardiff Demons 24–12 18 April, 14:00 Cardiff University Sports Park C. Davies A 62–4 Catalans Dragons 19 April, 12:00 BrewDog Stadium B 72–0 19 April, 14:00 West Park Source: Standings
Quarter-finals The quarter-finals took place over the weekend of 25/26 April.
+ Challenge Cup quarter-final fixturesHomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance 25 April 2026, 14:00 Edge Hall Road 68–6 25 April 2026, 14:30 BrewDog Stadium A. Williams 68–0 Cardiff Demons 25 April 2026, 15:15 Headingley T. Topping-Higson York Valkyrie 34–10 26 April 2026, 14:00 York Community Stadium L. Breheny Source:
Semi-finals The semi-finals were played over the weekend of 9/10 May and were double-headers with the men's semi-finals. + Challenge Cup semi-final fixturesHomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance 52–0 York Valkyrie 9 May 2026, 11:30 Halliwell Jones Stadium T. Jones 10 May 2026, 13:00 Eco-Power Stadium R. Cox Source:
Final
The final took place on Saturday 30 May 2026, as part of a double-header with the men's final.
+ Challenge Cup finalHomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeAttendance 54–6 30 May 2026, 11:45 Wembley Stadium A. Moore Source:
Notes
References