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2019 Challenge Cup
The 2019 Challenge Cup known as the Coral Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the 118th staging of the Challenge Cup, the main rugby league knockout tournament for teams in the Super League, the British National Leagues and a number of invited amateur clubs.
The defending champions were Catalans Dragons, who beat Warrington Wolves 20–14 at Wembley Stadium on 25 August 2018, to become the first non-British team to win the challenge cup in its 117-year history. However, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals after a 51–8 defeat, away to Hull F.C.
The format of the competition will be eight knock-out rounds followed by the final. The final will be held on the August bank holiday weekend, and from 2020 the final will move to July, but will still be played at Wembley Stadium. The day of the final will see three matches played back-to-back, with the Challenge Cup final being preceded by the Steven Mullaney Memorial Match (the RFL Champion Schools Final for Year 7s), and the final of the newly announced 1895 Cup for clubs in the Championship and League 1.
A new sponsorship deal was announced in January 2019, with Coral replacing Ladbrokes (although both are part of the Ladbrokes Coral group).
*Toulouse Olympique and Toronto Wolfpack declined to participate in the competition.
Entry into the Cup is mandatory for the English and Welsh professional teams, but is by invitation for all other clubs, either professional or amateur. French side Toulouse declined to enter for 2019, after also declining to play in the 2018 competition. Canadian side Toronto Wolfpack also declined to enter for 2019, after both clubs were presented with a demand by the Rugby Football League (RFL) for roughly £750,000 (€830,000; C$1,226,000 approximately) as a bond insurance against reduced ticket sales, if either team reached the final.
In January 2019 it was revealed that defending champions, Catalans Dragons, had also been asked to pay a £500,000 (€553,000) bond to enter the competition. Catalans informed the RFL, that the club had no intention of paying, leading to the possibility, that for the first time ever, the competition would take place without the defending champions being in the tournament. However, after settling their dispute with the RFL, it was confirmed that they would be defending their title.
The first and second rounds of the competition are competed for solely by amateur teams, and for 2019, 51 British based teams are joined by Serbian side Red Star in the draw for the first round of the cup. Red Star's entry is on condition that they play away from home in the first and second rounds (assuming victory in the first round). The 51 amateur clubs are 47 British teams together with four teams representing the armed forces and the British police. This season will be the first since the 1990s, that no student sides will be playing in the competition.
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2019 Challenge Cup AI simulator
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2019 Challenge Cup
The 2019 Challenge Cup known as the Coral Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the 118th staging of the Challenge Cup, the main rugby league knockout tournament for teams in the Super League, the British National Leagues and a number of invited amateur clubs.
The defending champions were Catalans Dragons, who beat Warrington Wolves 20–14 at Wembley Stadium on 25 August 2018, to become the first non-British team to win the challenge cup in its 117-year history. However, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals after a 51–8 defeat, away to Hull F.C.
The format of the competition will be eight knock-out rounds followed by the final. The final will be held on the August bank holiday weekend, and from 2020 the final will move to July, but will still be played at Wembley Stadium. The day of the final will see three matches played back-to-back, with the Challenge Cup final being preceded by the Steven Mullaney Memorial Match (the RFL Champion Schools Final for Year 7s), and the final of the newly announced 1895 Cup for clubs in the Championship and League 1.
A new sponsorship deal was announced in January 2019, with Coral replacing Ladbrokes (although both are part of the Ladbrokes Coral group).
*Toulouse Olympique and Toronto Wolfpack declined to participate in the competition.
Entry into the Cup is mandatory for the English and Welsh professional teams, but is by invitation for all other clubs, either professional or amateur. French side Toulouse declined to enter for 2019, after also declining to play in the 2018 competition. Canadian side Toronto Wolfpack also declined to enter for 2019, after both clubs were presented with a demand by the Rugby Football League (RFL) for roughly £750,000 (€830,000; C$1,226,000 approximately) as a bond insurance against reduced ticket sales, if either team reached the final.
In January 2019 it was revealed that defending champions, Catalans Dragons, had also been asked to pay a £500,000 (€553,000) bond to enter the competition. Catalans informed the RFL, that the club had no intention of paying, leading to the possibility, that for the first time ever, the competition would take place without the defending champions being in the tournament. However, after settling their dispute with the RFL, it was confirmed that they would be defending their title.
The first and second rounds of the competition are competed for solely by amateur teams, and for 2019, 51 British based teams are joined by Serbian side Red Star in the draw for the first round of the cup. Red Star's entry is on condition that they play away from home in the first and second rounds (assuming victory in the first round). The 51 amateur clubs are 47 British teams together with four teams representing the armed forces and the British police. This season will be the first since the 1990s, that no student sides will be playing in the competition.