2026 RFL Championship

2026 Betfred Championship
Duration	January – October 2026
Teams	21
← 2025 2027 →

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 21 clubs - this is due to the 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 hadn't 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 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]}

Clubs

Stadiums and locations

2026 Championship clubs

40km
25miles

21

Workington

20

Widnes

19

Whitehaven

18

Swinton

17

Sheffield

16

Salford

15

Rochdale

14

Oldham

13

North Wales

12

Newcastle

11

Midlands

10

London

9

Keighley

8

Hunslet

7

Halifax

6

Goole

5

Featherstone

4

Doncaster

3

Dewsbury

2

Batley

1

Barrow

   

1

Barrow Raiders

2

Batley Bulldogs

3

Dewsbury Rams

4

Doncaster

5

Featherstone Rovers

6

Goole Vikings

7

Halifax Panthers

8

Hunslet

9

Keighley Cougars

10

London Broncos

11

Midlands Hurricanes

12

Newcastle Thunder

13

North Wales Crusaders

14

Oldham

15

Rochdale Hornets

16

Salford Red Devils

17

Sheffield Eagles

18

Swinton Lions

19

Whitehaven

20

Widnes Vikings

21

Workington Town

Team	2025 Position	Head coach	Captain	Stadium	Capacity	Grading
Barrow Raiders	9th	Paul Crarey	vacant	Craven Park	4,000	B
Batley Bulldogs	12th	James Ford	Alistair Leak, Dane Manning	Mount Pleasant	7,500	B
Dewsbury Rams	4th League One	Paul March	George Senior	Crown Flatt	5,100	C
Doncaster	8th	Richard Horne	Reece Lyne	Eco-Power Stadium	15,231	B
Featherstone Rovers	6th	Paul Cooke	vacant	Millenium Stadium	8,000	B
Goole Vikings	7th League One	Scott Taylor	Brett Ferres	Victoria Pleasure Grounds	3,000	C
Halifax Panthers	5th	Kyle Eastmond	Ben Crooks	The Shay	10,401	B
Hunslet	13th	Kyle Trout	Jimmy Watson	South Leeds Stadium	3,450	C
Keighley Cougars	9th League One	Alan Kilshaw	Matty Beharrell	Cougar Park	7,800	– [a]
London Broncos	10th	Jason Demetriou	vacant	Plough Lane	9,215	B
Midlands Hurricanes	5th League One	Mark Dunning	Callum McLelland	Alexander Stadium	18,000	C
Newcastle Thunder	10th League One	Graham Steadman	vacant	Crow Trees Ground	2,000	– [a]
North Wales Crusaders	1st League One	Dean Muir	Josh Eaves	Eirias Stadium	5,500	C
Oldham	4th		vacant	Boundary Park	13,186	B
Rochdale Hornets	6th League One	Gary Thornton	vacant	Spotland Stadium	10,249	C
Salford Red Devils	12th Super League	Mike Grady	vacant	Salford Community Stadium	12,000	B
Sheffield Eagles	11th	Craig Lingard	Joel Farrell	Steel City Stadium	1,320	B
Swinton Lions	3rd League One	Paul Wood	Kenny Baker	Heywood Road	3,387	C
Whitehaven	8th League One	Anthony Murray	Jordan Burns	Recreation Ground	7,500	C
Widnes Vikings	7th	Allan Coleman	Jack Owens	Halton Stadium	13,350	B
Workington Town	2nd League One	Jonty Gorley	Stevie Scholey	Derwent Park	10,000	C

Regular season

Results

Main article: 2026 RFL Championship season results

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Barrow Raiders	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Batley Bulldogs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Dewsbury Rams	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Doncaster	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Featherstone Rovers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Goole Vikings	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Halifax Panthers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Hunslet	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Keighley Cougars	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	London Broncos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Midlands Hurricanes	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	Newcastle Thunder	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	North Wales Crusaders	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	Oldham	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
15	Rochdale Hornets	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	Salford Red Devils [b]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
17	Sheffield Eagles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	Swinton Lions	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	Widnes Vikings	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	Whitehaven	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	Workington Town	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 17-18 January 2026. Source: RFL
Notes:

1. Not graded as required information was not submitted to the RFL on time
2. The Salford Red Devils’ membership of the RFL was terminated on 3 December 2025. ^[13] Salford were wound up by the High Court over outstanding debts and liquidated on 3 December 2025. A decision regarding new ownership and a phoenix club is due to be made on 17 December 2025. ^[14]

References

1. "New format outside Betfred Super League in 2026". 27 August 2025.
2. "Rugby league's second and third tiers to merge". 27 August 2025.
3. "North Wales Crusaders aim for Super League with 'sustainable' mantra". BBC Sport. 8 September 2025.
4. "Salford Red Devils relegated from Super League after grading announcement". 16 October 2025.
5. "Super League to expand to 14 teams from 2026". 28 July 2025.
6. "Toulouse Olympique and York Knights give Super League golden ticket as London Broncos miss out". 17 October 2025.
7. "Salford Red Devils: Troubled ex-Super League club wound up by High Court". BBC Sport. 3 December 2025.
8. McAllister, Josh (8 December 2025). "RFL confirm bids to relaunch Salford with decision deadlines set". All Out Rugby League.
9. Bower, Aaron (8 December 2025). "Major Salford Red Devils update as deadline passes for ownership". Love Rugby League.
10. McAllister, Josh (17 December 2025). "Salford Red Devils decision pushed back as RFL talks continue". All Out Rugby League.
11. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/articles/clyd8n213pmo
12. https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12040/13486628/salford-rugby-league-team-granted-entry-into-the-2026-championship-under-new-consortium-led-by-mason-caton-brown
13. "Salford Red Devils - Update". www.rugby-league.com.
14. "Salford Red Devils: Troubled ex-Super League club wound up by High Court". BBC Sport. 3 December 2025.