The formatting and fixture schedule for next year’s newly-merged Championship competition is still yet to be finalised – with clubs still waiting to discover who they will play and how often in 2026.
It was confirmed earlier this summer that Championship and League 1 would merge to form one bigger division, with the size of that league now confirmed to be 21 teams after York and Toulouse were promoted to Super League.
The fixtures for the following season traditionally come out in November but incredibly, there is still no decision yet on what sort of identity or make-up the schedule will take for 2026.
Clubs will have to play each other at least once, but it would be impossible to do a traditional fixture list, as that would yield a 40-round season. That means that, despite Super League removing them for 2026, some level of loop fixtures will have to be installed outside of the top flight.
One working theory is that clubs will play their extra games based on who they finished around in the league the previous season. As an example, that would mean a team like Oldham would play the other sides that finished at the top of the Championship this year while Newcastle, who were bottom of League 1, would have loop fixtures against clubs such as Keighley.
But outgoing Rugby Football League CEO has incredibly admitted that there is still no decision on what is going to happen next year, with a format still to be finalised due to the fact that there was alleged uncertainty over whether Super League would go to 14 teams or remain at 12.
When asked if there was an update on how the fixtures would look in the Championship, Sutton said: “I’m afraid I can’t give you one because it was heavily dependent on the outcome of the panel decision about whether Super League was going to 12 or 14 clubs.
“Now that it’s confirmed, the fixture compiler and the people who are looking at competition structure can slot all these things and confirm that in the very near future.”
Meanwhile, Sutton revealed that a final decision on what promotion and relegation looks like at the end of next season will be made before the end of this year.
Sutton hinted last week that the gradings are, as it stands, the metric that determines who is playing in Super League in 2027, with no further panels set to be put together to make decisions on structure.
Sutton said: “The strategic review committee report to RFL Council in December. That will be the next milestone in terms of strategic review and their findings and recommendations.”
