Super League (Europe)
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|
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| Current season | Super League XXIV |
| sport | Rugby league |
| abbreviation | SRL |
| League foundation | 1996 |
| Teams | 12 |
| Country countries |
 England France Canada 
|
| Title holder | St Helens (2019) |
| Record champions | Leeds Rhinos (7) |
| TV partner | Sky Sports |
| Website | superleague.co.uk |
The Super League is the only fully professionalized rugby league in the Northern Hemisphere. It is organized by the UK Rugby Football League (RFL) and consists of 12 teams. Ten are from England and one each from France and Canada . The Super League, which was first played in 1996, replaced the top division of the Rugby Football League Championship, which had existed since 1895 .
Championship mode
There are 12 teams involved in the Super League. The season, which runs from February to July, includes a first half of the season and a second half of the season, interrupted by the Magic Weekend (formerly Millennium Magic ) in Cardiff with one game each. At the end of the regular season, which comprises a total of 23 game rounds, the Super 8 playoffs follow , in which the four semi-finals are determined. The subsequent Super League Grand Final will be held at Old Trafford in Manchester . The Super 8 playoffs work as follows:
- After the end of the regular season, the first eight teams go into the Super 8 playoffs, while the remaining four play with the first four teams from the championship in the so-called Super 8 qualifying tournament.
- Now seven rounds are played, so everyone against everyone without a second leg. In the Super 8 playoffs, the points from the previous round also count, that is, if you had 33 points after the regular season, you have a total of 35 points after a win in the playoffs. In the Super 8 qualifying tournament, however, everything is set to zero, so that the placement from the previous round does not matter.
- After the rounds are over, the first four teams of the Super 8 playoffs play for a place in the final. In the semifinals, the first placed player plays against the fourth placed and the second placed against the third placed. The winner of the Super League Grand Final will play against the champions of the Australian-New Zealand National Rugby League in the World Club Challenge for the World Cup.
- In the Super 8 qualifier, after the rounds are over, the top three teams go to the Super League, while the last three go to the championship. The fourth and fifth placed play a relegation game, the so-called Million Pound Game , about who is allowed to play in the Super League. Due to this format, unlike in many other leagues, there is no predetermined number of promoters and relegators, this can vary greatly depending on the placement of the teams and the outcome of the relegation game.
Teams 2020
| team | Stadion | City / region |
|---|---|---|
 Castleford Tigers
|
The Mend-A-Hose Jungle | Castleford , West Yorkshire |
 Catalans Dragons
|
Stade Gilbert Brutus | Perpignan , Pyrénées-Orientales department , France |
 Huddersfield Giants
|
John Smith's Stadium | Huddersfield , West Yorkshire |
 Hull FC
|
KCOM Stadium | Kingston upon Hull , East Riding of Yorkshire |
 Hull Kingston Rovers
|
Lightstream Stadium | Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire |
 Leeds Rhinos
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Headingley Carnegie Stadium | Leeds , West Yorkshire |
 Salford Red Devils
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AJ Bell Stadium | Salford , Greater Manchester |
 St Helens RLFC
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Totally Wicked Stadium | St Helens , Merseyside |
| Toronto Wolfpack | Lamport Stadium | Toronto , Ontario , Canada |
 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
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Beaumont Legal Stadium | Wakefield , West Yorkshire |
 Warrington Wolves
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Halliwell Jones Stadium | Warrington , Cheshire |
 Wigan Warriors
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DW Stadium | Wigan , Greater Manchester |
history
In 1996, the News Corporation of Rupert Murdoch , the Australian Super League to be in the battle for broadcasting rights against the Australian Rugby League to enforce. Both leagues merged the following year to form the National Rugby League .
Murdoch also turned to British and French clubs with a proposal to form the Super League Europe (SLE). A large sum of money influenced the decision-making process and the first season began in 1996. As part of the agreements, the season was moved from winter to summer.
Initially, various mergers of existing associations were planned:
- the Castleford Tigers , Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Featherstone Rovers in the Calder area
- the Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers in the region Humberside
- the Whitehaven RLFC , Workington Town , the Barrow Raiders and the Carlisle RLFC in Cumbria
- the Warrington Wolves and the Widnes Vikings in Cheshire
- the Salford City Reds and the Oldham Roughyeds in the Manchester area
- the Sheffield Eagles and the Doncaster Lakers in South Yorkshire
In addition, the following non-merged clubs should belong to the league: St Helens RLFC , Wigan Warriors , Leeds Rhinos , Bradford Bulls , Halifax RLFC , London Broncos , Paris Saint-Germain and Toulouse Olympique .
However, these plans met with great resistance, so that in the end only existing clubs were included in the new competition. From the top division of England only the ten best teams were allowed (without Wakefield and Widnes). The London Broncos, fourth-placed in the second division, were added for economic reasons. In addition, a new French team was formed with Paris Saint-Germain.
After two years, the Paris Saint-Germain team disbanded and the Super League consisted only of English teams. Promotion and relegation between the Super League and the National League One were reintroduced and in 2002 the Super League was again fully integrated into the English league system, so that in the end it is actually just a renamed top division. Since 2006, the Dragons Catalans from Perpignan , a French team that enjoyed protection from possible relegation for three years, has been involved again.
For the 2009 season, the Celtic Crusaders from Wales and the Salford City Reds received a license, which means that the Super League now comprised 14 teams. After 2009 there was no longer any automatic relegation from the Super League, the clubs were approved on the basis of a franchise . A franchise review every three years should ensure that lower-class clubs continued to have the chance to move up.
For the 2012 season, the license was withdrawn from the Crusaders. They were replaced by the Widnes Vikings .
In the 2014 season, the Bradford Bulls and the London Broncos were relegated, which reduced the number of teams back to 12. Since the 2015 season there has been another promotion and relegation between the Super League and the Championship .
Results of previous finals
| title | society | season |
|---|---|---|
| 8th |
Leeds Rhinos
|
2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 |
| 7th |
St Helens
|
1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2019 |
| 5 |
Wigan Warriors
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1998, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018 |
| 4th |
 Bradford Bulls
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1997, 2001, 2003, 2005 |
In 1996 and 1997, the first-placed team in the table won the championship, in the following playoffs a separate title (Premiership) was awarded. In both years Wigan won the final against St Helens.
literature
- Phil Caplan and Jonathan R. Doidge: Super League - the first ten years . ISBN 0-7524-3698-8