SUPER League clubs will make an earlier entry to the Challenge Cup next year – and will face an away tie against a team from outside the top flight first up.
Under the new structure, designed to freshen up the historic competition, the twelve clubs playing in Super League in 2025 will join at the third-round stage, which will feature 32 teams.
Under the old format, they came in for round six, which involved 16 teams.
The third-round draw will accompany that for the second round, at which stage Championship and League One clubs will enter, and be in January, before the start of the Super League season, with the RFL aiming to build more momentum towards the showpiece finals day in June.
“It (the new format) means that clubs from the Betfred Championship, League One and even the community game will have more chance to secure a glamour tie at home to Super League opposition, as the third-Round draw will be seeded to guarantee each of the Super League clubs travel to one of the 20 second-round winners,” explained the governing body.
“The fourth round (comprising 16 clubs) will be played in March, the quarter finals in April and the semi-finals on the weekend of May 10-11, leaving the winners with four weeks to prepare for the 2025 Betfred Challenge Cup final – which has already been confirmed to return to Wembley Stadium on Saturday, June 7.”
RL Commercial managing director Rhodri Jones said: “After extensive consultation with clubs and other stakeholders, we believe this new structure for the Betfred Challenge Cup will deliver a number of benefits to the competition and to the sport as a whole.
“It was pleasing to announce an attendance of 64,845 for finals day at Wembley this month, the fourth consecutive year of growth since the 2020 final was played behind closed doors.
“But we recognised a need to reshape and reinvigorate the early rounds of the competition – which we believe will allow us to maintain that trend at Wembley next June.
“The 2025 Betfred Challenge Cup will again start with a first-round featuring teams from the community game, but all the League One and Championship clubs will enter at the second-round stage, knowing that victory will secure a place in the third Round when the twelve Betfred Super League clubs enter – and will be seeded to play away from home.
“That returns the competition closer to its traditions, with top-flight clubs joining in the round of 32 in the Winter months – the start of the road to the Wembley final in the Spring.
“We hope that holding the draws for the second and third rounds together in January will provide a pre-season talking point for all professional clubs.”
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