After 26 regular-season games, the sides finishing in third to sixth will play quarter-finals. The winners of those games will go into semi-finals against the teams who finished first and second, before a final to crown a Champ Rugby winner.
With no automatic promotion spot, the winner will then enter a two-legged play-off against the Premiership’s bottom side if they meet the top flight’s minimum operating standards., external
There was no play-off to be promoted from this season’s 12-strong Championship after champions Ealing Trailfinders failed to meet the standards required to be admitted to the top flight.
Sixth-placed Coventry also fell short, with Doncaster, who finished fifth, being the only club who would have been eligible to play off against Premiership bottom side Newcastle.
Discussions are under way for a title sponsor and there are plans to stream the league’s matches.
RFU funding for Champ Rugby and parachute payments for relegated sides from the Premiership are still to be confirmed, with no timeline given on when this will be decided.
The current Championship clubs saw their central funding cut from around £600,000 a year before the Covid-19 pandemic to about £160,000. This figure will remain the same for the 2025-26 season.
How the plans will work, with the Premiership currently looking at a franchise model, is unclear.
Nick Johnson, chief executive at Coventry, said closing the financial gap between Champ Rugby and the Premiership was “not a quick fix” but added: “We can sit back and whinge or we can get off our backsides and do something about it. That’s what we’re doing.”
“We’ve noticed a step change in how seriously PRL [Premiership Rugby] are taking us because we’ve got our act together and our house in order. We’ve just got to keep doing that.”
To help young players gain experience, Champ clubs will be permitted unlimited dual-registered players from Premiership sides.
However, this will be capped at a maximum six in any matchday squad.
The rule will be mirrored in the national leagues as well, but season-long loans will be excluded from the cap.
