2025/26 Fixtures Confirmed
Blockbuster fixtures set to kick off new Champ Rugby season
The 2025/26 Champ Rugby season is fast approaching, with the fixtures for the newly formatted competition now confirmed, with qualification and play-off games adding aspiration and jeopardy excitement at the conclusion to the season.
Matches kick off on the weekend of 4 October, and the final regular season matches will take place on the weekend of 9 May 2026. All teams will play each other in home and away fixtures over 26 rounds.
The upcoming season will include 14 teams, with Worcester Warriors and newly promoted Richmond joining the 12 teams from last season.
Champ Rugby will live stream games this season, with at least one fixture per round available on YouTube, increasing the visibility of the league and showcasing its rising talent, community pride and elite performances.
The opening weekend of fixtures promises to bring a host of close encounters and plenty of entertaining rugby, including the opportunity to see reigning champions Ealing Trailfinders head to Bedford Blues, locking horns with last season’s runners-up. The two teams combined scoring points total for last season was close to 2,000, and both will be looking to get out of the blocks quickest come October.
Elsewhere in an action-packed Round 1, Worcester Warriors mark their return to professional rugby by hosting west midlands rivals, Coventry Rugby, at Sixways Stadium. Warriors have been busy recruiting over recent weeks and will face a tough test in Coventry, which finished fifth in the table last season.
Both Worcester Warriors v Coventry Rugby (2pm kick-off) and Ealing Trailfinders v Bedford Blues (4pm kick-off) will be the featured games on the new live streaming service, kicking off the season on Saturday 4 October.
Ampthill makes the short trip to Cambridge for its opening match, which if their last meeting in May, with a 54-43 scoreline, is anything to go by, is set to be a high-scoring affair for both sets of supporters to enjoy.
Recently promoted Richmond will host Chinnor in their first match since returning to the second tier of English rugby. The London-based club notched up 21 wins from 26 games in National 1 last season, securing promotion in emphatic fashion.
Cornish Pirates are another side heading into the new season after an impressive end to their latest campaign. The Penzance side won four out of their five fixtures in the final month of last season and will be looking to continue that form in Round 1 when they host Hartpury University. Hartpury picked up impressive wins over Coventry, Cornish Pirates and Bedford last season, and proving themselves as a tough outfit to overcome.
Doncaster Knights will head to the north midlands to take on Nottingham, hoping to continue the form that they finished their last campaign in, winning an impressive 12 matches in a row in all competitions to close out their 2024/25 season.
It is a trip further north for London Scottish in the opening round, as they are set to travel to Merseyside to take-on Caldy. Both sides won their home fixtures against each other last season and will be hoping to go one better this campaign.
Round 12 and 13 offer festive fixtures over the holiday period for supporters, these include unpredictable clashes such as Caldy v Ampthill, Ealing Trailfinders v Worcester Warriors, Coventry v Cornish Pirates and many more.
The final round of regular season action sees a reverse of Round 1, offering the chance to finish the season with some revenge at a crucial time with playoff places up for grabs. London Scottish, Doncaster Knights, Ampthill, Hartpury University, Coventry Rugby, Ealing Trailfinders and Chinnor all host their opposition, having made the journey to their league rivals in Round 1.
Changes to the season structure announced in May mean that at the end of the 26- round Champ Rugby regular season, the table will be split into qualification stages. The teams ranked from third to sixth will participate in the quarterfinals to earn entry into the semi-finals, where the winners will take on the top two ranked sides.
The winners of the semi-finals enter the final to determine the Champ Rugby champion.
The overall winner will then face the bottom Premiership Rugby club in a promotion/relegation play-off, in both a home and away leg, to determine which league they will play in for the following campaign, subject to meeting the minimum standards criteria.
At the bottom end of the table, the team that finishes in 14th place will be relegated to National 1. The teams that finish in 12th and 13th will face off in a one-legged fixture, with the loser taking part in a play-off against the runner-up of National 1 to determine who will play in Champ Rugby for the following season. This play-off will be a one- legged fixture, with the winner joining the champion of National League 1 in Champ Rugby, subject to the teams meeting Champ Rugby Minimum Operating Standards.
Chair of the Champ Rugby Board, Simon Gillham, said: “The upcoming Champ Rugby season is an exciting prospect, with a new format ready to test the teams.
“We are delighted to welcome Worcester Warriors and Richmond into the league, two clubs that are steeped in history and who will add to the competitiveness of Champ Rugby.
“The quality of rugby in last year’s competition was clear, and we only expect that to improve this year, given the exciting format changes to Champ Rugby.
“Aspiration and jeopardy in the form of the new playoff system will create a brilliant narrative for the league and something that supporters will undoubtably get behind. We can’t wait to see how the season unfolds.”
Click here to see the full list of Champ Rugby fixtures for 2025/26.