Super XIII 2025–2026
European rugby league competition
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The 2025–26 Super XIII season was the 91st season of France's domestic rugby league competition and the second as the Super XIII having previously been known as the Elite 1 Championship between the 2002–03 and 2023–24 seasons.
| Super XIII 2025–26 | |
|---|---|
| League | Super XIII |
| Duration | 22 rounds + playoffs |
| Teams | 11 |
| Broadcast partners | YouTube[1] |
| 2025–26 season | |
| Champions | |
| League leaders | |
In July 2025, the schedule for the 2025–26 Super XIII was released with the eleven teams unchanged from the previous season as Palau XIII Broncos, champions of Elite 2 in 2024–25, remained in the second-tier competition.[2] The season began of 27 September with the eleven teams in the competition each playing 20 matches in the regular season. In May, the top six teams then progressed to the finals series. The Grand Final was played on 6 June 2026 at the Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris.
The defending champions were Albi who defeated Carcassonne 26–16 in the 2024–25 final.[3]
In the 2025–26 final, Pia XIII defeated Carcassonne 31–30 to become the French champions for the first time since the 2012–13 season.
Teams
Regular season
The regular season started on 27 September 2025 and ended on 10 May 2026. Each team played every other team twice, once at home and the other away making 20 games for each team and a total of 110 games over 22 rounds.[2][4]
Table and results
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BP | Pts | Qualification | CAR | PIA | LIM | ALB | AVI | STE | TOU | LEZ | VFA | VIL | STG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 646 | 300 | +346 | 1 | 55 | Semi-finals | — | 20–38[a] | 29–28 | 44–6 | 46–6 | 36–10 | 24–18 | 44–0 | 36–0 | 34–26[b] | 30–12 | ||
| 2 | 20 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 635 | 355 | +280 | 2 | 52 | 14–33 | — | 22–26 | 14–12[c] | 54–8 | 38–16 | 28–6 | 32–26 | 36–20 | 46–10 | 68–8[d] | |||
| 3 | 20 | 15 | 0 | 5 | 641 | 357 | +284 | 4 | 49 | Qualifiers | 14–18 | 18–36 | — | 46–6[e] | 34–10 | 26–14 | 32–16 | 36–18 | 54–6 | 42–12 | 66–18 | ||
| 4 | 20 | 11 | 1 | 8 | 384 | 345 | +39 | 4 | 39 | 22–12 | 14–18 | 18–16 | — | 24–12 | 28–6 | 7–6 | 11–30 | 20–4 | 6–18 | 20–12 | |||
| 5 | 20 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 472 | 460 | +12 | 5 | 38 | 28–46 | 18–19 | 10–17 | 32–14 | — | 42–12[f] | 20–16 | 34–10 | 28–22 | 32–10 | 22–20 | |||
| 6 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 494 | 516 | −22 | 7 | 33 | 12–20 | 30–30 | 14–26 | 25–24[g] | 30–32 | — | 30–22 | 23–28 | 38–34 | 66–6[h] | 40–20 | |||
| 7 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 438 | 514 | −76 | 7 | 31 | 20–24 | 4–34 | 20–18[i] | 10–50 | 26–24 | 10–38 | — | 18–24 | 42–10 | 30–24 | 44–14 | |||
| 8 | 20 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 429 | 523 | −94 | 5 | 28 | 20–34[j] | 14–18 | 22–38 | 10–10 | 10–22 | 20–24 | 45–34 | — | 36–12 | 32–24 | 18–33 | |||
| 9 | 20 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 373 | 605 | −232 | 4 | 25 | 4–48 | 10–28 | 26–34 | 20–30 | 30–22 | 24–18 | 20–36[k] | 22–20 | — | 12–10 | 34–16 | |||
| 10 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 378 | 578 | −200 | 9 | 24 | 8–34 | 36–26 | 16–20 | 10–28 | 20–28 | 32–22 | 22–30 | 40–26 | 24–33 | — | 18–14 | |||
| 11 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 337 | 674 | −337 | 8 | 14 | 14–34[l] | 26–36 | 26–50 | 0–34 | 0–42 | 18–26 | 26–30 | 14–20 | 29–30 | 17–12 | — |
- 3 points for a victory
- 1 point bonus for the losing team if the margin is less than 12
- If two teams have equal points then the separation factor is the point difference in head-to-head matches between the specific teams. If a team has a greater point difference, they rank higher on the table. If still tied then overall points difference will be the tie-breaker.[11][12]
Finals
At the end of the regular season, the top six teams in the table advanced to the knockout stage. First and second received byes to the semi-finals where they faced the winners of the qualifying finals. Fourth-placed Albi defeated fifth-placed Avignon 11–10 for the right to take on league leaders Carcassonne in the semi-finals, and third-placed Limoux won 40–12 against sixth-placed Saint-Estève Catalan setting up a match against Pia.[13][14][15] However, it was the top two teams that progressed to the Grand Final as Carcassonne defeated Albi 35–12 and Pia won 46–18 against Limoux.[16][17]
The winners of the semi-finals met in the Grand Final on 6 June 2026 at the Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris. In early September 2025, the date and venue of the match were reported in the media along with the information that it would be played as the opening fixture of a doubleheader with the Super League match between Catalans Dragons and Wigan Warriors.[a][19] At the time the president of the French Rugby League Federation, Dominique Baloup, stated that the feasibility of this happening was still being discussed, before the federation confirmed the match details in mid-December.[20][21]
Pia were making their first appearance in the final since they won the league, known at the time as Elite 1, in the 2012–13 season.[22] They had then spent several seasons in Elite 2 before winning the 2020–21 final and returning to top division.[23][24] Carcassonne, runners-up in 2024–25, were making a seventh consecutive appearance in the final having last won the title in the 2023–24 season.[22]
In the final, Carcassonne picked up two yellow cards in the first 15 minutes as Pia dominated the game taking the lead on 20 minutes and extended it to 0-12 a few minutes later. Carcassonne then came back to level the scores at 12-12 at half-time. Pia scored first in the second half to make it 12-18 before two tries from Carcassonne saw them take a six-point lead. A try and two penalties from Pia put them back in the lead, 24-26, before Carcassonne scored again to make it 30-26 with ten minutes remaining. Pia then scored a late try but missed the conversion to leave the scores level at 30-30 after 80 minutes. In extra time, Théo Fages kicked a golden point drop goal from 40 metres to win the game for Pia.[25]
Bracket
| Qualifying Finals | Semi-Finals | Final | |||||||||||
| 1 | 35 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | 11 | 4 | 12 | ||||||||||
| 5 | 10 | 1 | 30 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 31 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 46 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | 40 | 3 | 18 | ||||||||||
| 6 | 12 | ||||||||||||
- Source:[4]