Super League set to make groundbreaking quota rule affecting transfer policy

It seems that Super League ‘s quota rules will have a big shake-up for 2026, which will affect a number of the league’s biggest names.

It was revealed earlier this year that relaxations on the rule were being considered for future campaigns.

Currently, clubs can have a maximum of seven ‘non-Federation trained players’ in their squad – and these players are defined as those that didn’t play three seasons of rugby in Europe before they turned 21.

These rules are much more relaxed than previous rules, which were at one point to only allow three foreign players in most English sides.

Now, this rule seems to be set to be relaxed further, as Super League looks to compete with NRL.

Super League set to make groundbreaking quota rule affecting transfer policy

According to Yorkshire Live, the new rule changes set to come into effect in 2026 will see quota players become exempt if/once they have spent six consecutive years as a Super League player.

This is not affected by citizenship status, as the original proposals suggested – and will be a year later than first planned.

This will give clubs time to prepare for the rule change.

Perhaps strangely, it’s only Super League that this applies to – time in the Championship is not included, for example, and time spent in a separate competition to Super League resets the timer, and another six years consecutive would then be needed to become exempt.

As well as this meaning clubs will be able to have more foreign players if they play their cards right, it also means there could be more players on higher wages: the salary cap for ‘home’ players is £100,000 per year, while non-Federation trained players can earn up to £150,000.

This could mean Super League clubs are more capable of competing with NRL sides for the signatures of top talents from overseas, including British players that have spent their youth in the Southern Hemisphere.