The format of the new merged Championship division still hasn’t been confirmed, leaving clubs and fans frustrated as the 2026 season looms large.
Players are due back for pre-season in the next fortnight, and with a proposed start date of January 18th, there is little over two months to go until the start of the season and yet clubs still don’t know exactly who they will be facing, let alone a complete fixture list.
It appears that the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Salford is at least partly contributing to the delay, with it still unknown whether they will take to the starting line at all. There’s also the question as to whether it would be the existing Salford, or maybe even a phoenix club, which would have consequences based on how the format is being structured.
How did we get here?
Clubs voted to merge Championship and League One a few months ago, citing the lack of games for League One teams, who had a disrupted 2025 season caused by initially having a lopsided division of 11 teams, which already meant two weekends off for every club, exacerbated then by the late withdrawal of Cornwall leaving clubs with four blank weekends in an already sparse season.
With central funding for those clubs having dissolved to virtually nothing, League One clubs were desperate to join up with the Championship. A proposal to do so a couple of years ago was rejected by the Championship clubs, who feared losing some of their more lucrative fixtures at the top of the division.
As a compromise on that occasion, it was decided to run with two divisions of 12. At the time, the Championship had 14 teams and League One had nine. That resulted in the relegation play-off game between Swinton and Hunslet at the end of 2024, that ultimately saw Hunslet promoted to a 13-team Championship for 2025.
In the meantime, the RFL had invited applications for a new club to take the total number up to 24, which saw Goole Vikings take to the field ahead of the 2025 season in a 13-team Championship and 11-team League One. The plan then was to hold a play-off between the bottom four in Championship and top four in League One at the end of the year to ensure that for 2026, there would be two divisions of 12.
Once two divisions of 12 happened, the old ‘Super 8s’ format from Super League/Championship would have been re-introduced, this time for Championship/League One – that meant playing 11 teams home and away, and then the bottom four Championship teams would play against the top four League One teams in a mini-league of seven games each to determine who would be in the Championship the following season. The top eight Championship clubs would then get more of their lucrative fixtures. It seemed like the ideal solution.
The spanner in the works was the withdrawal of Cornwall, barely a handful of games in to the 2025 season. When Super League then decided it wanted to expand to 14 teams, the 12/12 plan was in ruins.
What will the format of the 21-team Championship be?
Although a few different fixture formats have been discussed, it now appears there is a favourite that has been agreed upon.
It will see each team play 10 others home and away, based on their league positions from last season. There will then be two other teams you play, based on regional or strategic purposes. That then means there will be a total of 12 home and 12 away games in the league stage.
At the end of the season, it is thought that the top 10 teams will qualify for a play-off competition.
The Barrow chairman, Steve Neale, has done his best to explain it in an informative video on their Facebook page.
There had been some other formats considered. One popular suggestion among fans was that you were allocated a group of seven, played those six teams home and away, and then played the other 14 teams once. However, clubs raised concerns about not being able to play certain opposition home and away.
Clearly playing all 20 teams home and away was always out of the question. Playing all 20 either home and away wasn’t considered.
So who will Widnes be playing in 2026?
Based on the information shared, Widnes’ home and away fixtures based on league position will be against:
Barrow, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Featherstone, Halifax, Hunslet, Oldham, Salford, Sheffield, Workington
The two ‘regional/strategic’ opponents will be:
London, North Wales
People will no doubt turn their noses up at London, but the reality is that there are no regional games for London. Midlands are the closest. Widnes are one of the next southernmost teams, and of course they have to be paired with someone that they wouldn’t be playing in the ‘league position’ based fixtures (which rules out Doncaster and Midlands).
The most eye-catching omissions from Widnes’ fixtures is the popular trip to Batley, and not playing either Rochdale or Swinton.
The latter seems bizarre, given that one of the main drivers for the merged competition was to give League One clubs bigger and better fixtures. For Rochdale and Swinton to not have games against Widnes seems illogical.
Wembley dreams dashed
The format of the 1895 Cup will change, with the Championship season now getting underway in January and the 1895 Cup fixtures to be played later on in the season. That means that the 1895 Cup final will no longer be played at Wembley alongside the Challenge Cup final.
Reports recently suggested that Wakefield was being lined up to host the final.
An earlier start to the league season could be helpful in encouraging the return of automatic promotion and relegation – if the Grand Final is earlier in the year, then it gives the promoted team a better chance of preparing for Super League. Widnes were of course very much a positive example of that when they were promoted back in 2001.
When will details be confirmed?
That’s the million dollar question. As hinted at by Steve Neale, the Salford situation is causing some issues. He, and others, have suggested that Salford should be ranked as the ‘1st’ team regardless of if they carry on as they are or form a new club.
Ultimately, if they fold and start as a new entity, and their ranking changes to 21st, then it changes the fixture groupings. From a Widnes point of view, they would then play London in the standard fixtures, which would then mean they’d have to face someone else in the ‘regional’ games.
There are also still some questions over the play-off format. It could be that the fixture line-up changes completely.
Whatever happens, the RFL need to get on with it quick. The disdain for fans is extraordinary, as clubs desperately try to shift season tickets to give them the cash flow required for the return of players for pre-season.
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