
Rugby League Commercial have confirmed that the Challenge Cup will have a major revamp and format change in 2025 with Super League clubs set to enter the competition earlier.
It has been a major criticism of the competition in recent years that Super League teams are too protected and enter the cup far too late, but that’s set to change next year.
Rather than the 12 Super League teams entering the Challenge Cup in the Round of 16, they will not enter the competition in Round Three.
The Super League sides will also be seeded and must be drawn away from home meaning that League One, Championship and possibly even community clubs could draw a huge home tie against a Super League giant.
Those plans and revised structure was confirmed earlier today with the clubs attending a Rugby League Commerical forum that also saw a revised prize money structure confirmed.
Challenge Cup Quiz: Can you get these 20 questions correct?
Challenge Cup undergoes major format change

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News of the Challenge Cup changing format was confirmed by Rugby League Commercial with a statement shared to media about the restructure.
It read: “The Betfred Challenge Cup will have a new structure in 2025, with the 12 Super League clubs joining the Road to Wembley at the Third Round stage.
“The Third Round draw will be held in January, well before the start of the Super League season, with the aim of building more momentum towards the showpiece Finals Day in June.
“It 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 away to one of the 20 Second Round winners.
“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.”
Why has the Cup been changed?

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It was also confirmed that the structure of the Women’s Challenge Cup and the Wheelchair Challenge Cup are being discussed as well but have yet to be confirmed.
Rhodri Jones, Managing Director of RL Commercial, 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 12 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 of the Betfred Challenge Cup together in January will provide a pre-season talking point for all professional clubs.”
