The 2025 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 13 clubs – 12 from England and one from France.
The season will comprise 24 rounds in the regular season with the top six teams taking part in the play-offs to determine the champions.
There will be no automatic promotion from the Championship to Super League at the end of the season. This is due to the IMG grading scheme where clubs are graded by a number of factors, not all based on on-field performance.[1]
Following a review of the league structure below Super League, the RFL announced that by the start of the 2026 season, the Championship and League 1 would be equalised in size at 12 teams each. In March 2024 the RFL completed the review and announced that the first steps will be taken to equalise the number of teams in the Championship and League One at 12 each by the start of the 2026 season. Following the 2-up, 3-down system in 2024, 2025 will see the return of the Super 8s format with the top four teams in League One meeting the bottom four teams in the Championship to decide which division those clubs will play in for 2026.[2] Details are still to be finalised but it is anticipated that the top three in the Super 8s will play in the Championship in 2026 with the remaining five in League One.[3]
First match(es) will be played: unknown. Source: RFL Rules for classification: 1) Competition points; 2) Points difference; 3) Points percentage (points scored/points conceded x 100)