2026 Betfred Championship

On 3 December 2025, Salford Red Devils were liquidated in the High Court and expelled from the RFL.The RFL has set a deadline of 17 December 2025 for formal bids to form a phoenix club for the 2026 Championship.

The RFL announced on the 9th of January that Featherstone had not been RFL membership, and consequently entry into the 2026 competition. This was owing to the club going into administration, and the only takeover submission falling short of the required criteria. Because it was inside a week before the commencement of the season, the fixture list could not be adjusted, meaning a switch to using the win percentage system to determine ladder positions and compensations for clubs which had budgeted for home fixtures against Featherstone during the season. This was subsequently dropped by the time the season got underway, with 6 additional home and 6 additional away fixtures involving the 12 teams who had lost those home games against Featherstone. Those matches were scheduled throughout the season at varying intervals on spare weekends and midweek.

As the season progressed, both Halifax and North Wales endured periods of insolvency - Halifax postponed matches while they searched for new ownership in March while North Wales forfeited both a Cup fixture and a League fixture while they did the same in April. Both clubs were penalised with 12 point deductions, and Halifax were asked to rearrange the fixtures they missed.