2026 RFL Championship

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The Panthers' membership of the RFL, and therefore the club's permission to participate in the Championship, was withdrawn on 11 February.^[15] On 3 March, the RFL granted membership to a new Halifax Panthers club who re-joined the Championship with a 12-point deduction.^[16]

North Wales Crusaders were the next team to hit difficulties as the owners withdrew further funding on 9 April.^[17] The club's game against Keighley Cougars took place but only because two Crusaders' fans paid the players' wages.^[18] The subsequent 1895 Cup game against Midlands Hurricanes was forfeited by the Crusaders and the next scheduled league game against Doncaster was postponed on 27 April after many players left the club.^[19][20] On 6 May, the RFL terminated the Crusaders' membership due to an insolvency event. The following day, the RFL announced that it had approved membership of a new ownership group for the remainder of the 2026 season. The club also received a 12-point deduction.^[21]

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.^[22] 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.^[23]

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.^[23]

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.^[23] 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,^[23] 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.^[24] 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.^[25] 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.^[26]

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.^[30]

Team bracket

Qualifying Semi-Finals and Eliminators

Qualifying and Elimination Finals

Sudden Death Play-Offs

Preliminary Finals

Grand Final

QSF1

QF1

3

Oldham

24

1

London Broncos

5

Widnes Vikings

30

4

Doncaster

QSF2

QF2

SD1

PF1

4

Doncaster

72

2

Newcastle Thunder

Highest ranked loser of QF1&2

Highest ranked winner of QF1&2

6

Barrow Raiders

0

5

Widnes Vikings

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

Sheffield Eagles

25

3

Oldham

Lowest ranked loser of QF1&2

Lowest ranked winner of QF1&2

10

Batley Bulldogs

18

8

Midlands Hurricanes

Highest ranked winner of EF1&2

Highest ranked winner of SD1&2

E2

EF2

8

Midlands Hurricanes

36

6

Barrow Raiders

9

Whitehaven

4

7

Sheffield Eagles