Welcome to Super League: A Beginner’s Guide to 2025 as Rugby League’s Premier Competition Enters Season 30 | Rugby League News
Superliga is entering its 30th season and of course it will be 12 months of celebration! Do you want to get to know the sport, but not sure where to start? Let us help you…
First things first: What is the Super League?
The Super League is the premier European competition in rugby league. Starting way back in 1996, 11 clubs from the first division of the Rugby Football League and the new team Paris Saint-Germain came together to start the era of summer rugby and bring the sport into a new era.
To date, 29 editions of the competition have been held, and 2025 marks the great 30th birthday of the Super League.
To date, of the 24 clubs that have competed in the Super League, ONLY FOUR won the grand prize in the year-end grand final: Wigan Warriors (8), St Helens (9), Bradford Bulls (7) and Leeds Rhinos (8).
Talk about dominance!
Pull them aside: What are the key rules?
Let’s put sports in the simplest terms, shall we?
Rugby league is a game of 13 on 13 rugby, with each team having six tackles in an attempt to score a goal before the ball is handed over to the opposing team. The match lasts 80 minutes and is divided into two halves of 40 minutes each.
Each team then has a bench of four players who can be changed during the match.
Unlike football, the clock is stopped for injuries, penalties and tries.
It’s worth a try four pointswith the subsequent conversion of extra two points. Penalty kicks are also valid two points. The drop goal is worth the extra one point.
Within the 13 players, there are four main roles: forwards, backs, hookers and halfbacks.
Forwards are mainly focused on driving the ball forward and gaining as many yards as possible. The back looks aggressive on the edges. Hooker is there to control the ball play (when a player is attacked and the ball is distributed). The half-back controls the distribution of the ball.
In short: 13 players have six chances to get downfield and cross the try line. Simple, right?
Fight for victory: How many teams are there?
Over the years, 12 clubs have always competed in the Super League, and that will not be any different in 2025.
Castleford Tigers, Catalans Dragons, Huddersfield Giants, Hull FC, Hull KR, Leeds Rhinos, Leigh Leopards, Salford Red Devils, St Helens, Warrington Wolves, Wakefield Trinity and Wigan Warriors will battle it out from February to be crowned champions in October.
Over the years there have been 12 other clubs that have had their chance in the top competition: London Broncos, Bradford Bulls, Widnes Vikings, Halifax Panthers, Sheffield Eagles, Crusaders, Oldham, Paris Saint-Germain, Gateshead Thunder, Workington Town, Toronto Wolfpack and Toulouse Olympique.
Although often marketed as a Northern English competition, the Super League certainly had an international reach!
Knockouts? Race for points? Super League format…
The Super League competition is almost a hybrid of Premier League football and the knockout format.
So, 12 teams compete in 27 rounds of the regular season, and the best six then enter the play-offs.
After that, the top two teams get a week off, with the third-placed team playing sixth and the fourth-placed fifth.
The lowest-ranked team from the play-off matches will then play against the regular season winner, i.e. the League Leaders’ Shield winner, while the second-placed team will play against the higher-ranked team that is still involved.
The winners of those two games will compete in the Grand Final for the title of Super League winner.
No relegation?! Welcome to IMG criteria
Superliga is in its (sort of) franchise era!
Superliga teams do not determine promotion or relegation from 2025 onwards. Instead, the 12 teams will be those who score the most points across a range of criteria, including fans, on-field performance, finances, stadium and community.
The IMG rating system offers 20 points for clubs. To be a class A club you need to win at least 15 points, and to be a class B club you need 7.5 points.
The idea is that Class A clubs are automatically in the Super League, with the most successful Class B clubs then making up the rest of the 12 clubs in the competition.
As grading results improve and one day there are more than 12 clubs with A-grade status, the top league will expand, as happens in franchise sports such as the NRL and NFL.
Big boys vs. underdogs: Which team to beat?
There is one side going into 2025 with huge bullets on their backs: Wigan Warriors.
The Warriors absolutely dominated in 2024, picking up all four major trophies on offer: the Grand Final, the World Club Challenge, the Challenge Cup and the League Leaders’ Shield.
The likes of St Helens, Warrington Wolves and grand final runners-up Hull KR will be some of the teams looking to unseat Wigan, but Matt Peet’s side don’t look like slowing down.
In other words, Wigan are having their ‘Manchester United under Fergie’ moment, and everyone else is looking to stop them firmly in their tracks.
Superliga 2025 – key dates and what to pay attention to
March 1: Wigan Warriors v Warrington Wolves in Las Vegas
17.-19. April: 8th round – rival round
3.-4. May: Magic Round (St James’ Park, Newcastle)
July 24: August 31 – round 20 – divided into two weekends
4.-7. September: 25th round – Rivals reverse schedules
18.-21. September: 27th round – the last round of the regular season (dates and time will be determined later)
26.-27. September: Elimination playoffs
3.-4. October: Semi-final
Saturday, October 11: Grand Final (Old Trafford)
Sky Sports will once again show every Super League game live this season – including two games in each round exclusively live, while the remaining four games each week are shown on Sky Sports+
