Every structure change in Super League history as tweaks hit double figures with expansion
Wakefield Trinity celebrate winning the inaugural Million Pound Game.
The one thing you can guarantee about Super League is that when it comes to changing the structure and format, no competition quite does it better.
Since the launch in 1996, notable structure changes are now well into double figures, underlined by the recent decision to go to 14 teams next season for the third time in the competition’s history.
Over the last 30 seasons, things have barely stood still.
Here’s a look at every single structure change we’ve ever had – and strap yourselves in.. because there are plenty of them!
1998: Super League introduces the Grand Final
Super League’s first big material change came in its third season. St Helens and Bradford Bulls were the first two champions after finishing top of the table. But in 1998, the play-offs were introduced for the first time.
It yielded a third different winner in three seasons too, as Wigan Warriors defeated Leeds Rhinos in the inaugural Grand Final. Thankfully, that’s one change that has stayed to this day.
1999: Super League expands from 12 teams to 14 teams
By season four, Super League was expanding from 12 teams to 14 for the first time. It would not be the last.
Relegation was scrapped in 1998 and two new teams, Gateshead Thunder and Wakefield Trinity, were elevated to the top flight – with the season extending to 30 rounds. But within one year..
2000: Super League reverts back to 12 teams
The experiment was dropped, and Super League went back to 12 teams with Hull FC and Gateshead merging, as well as Huddersfield and Sheffield doing the same. It would be over a decade before the competition was that big again.
2005 and 2006: Relegation changes to account for Catalans’ inclusion
Five years later, Super League was making big changes again with confirmation that a team from France would enter the competition in 2006.
To facilitate the entry of Catalans Dragons, things had to change: two teams – Widnes and Leigh – were relegated in 2005 to ensure the league remained at 12 in 2006.
Catalans were then protected from relegation meaning that in their inaugural season the team who finished second-bottom, Castleford, went down instead.
2009: Super League expands to 14 teams and introduces licencing
In 2009, things were changing again – dramatically this time. It was confirmed Super League would go to 14 teams for the second time in the competition’s history and as well as that, relegation was removed from the equation too.
Crusaders and Salford came into Super League to increase the competition and were awarded three-year licences.
2009: The play-offs increase.. and Club Call
In the same season, the play-offs went from six teams to eight – meaning you could finish in the bottom half of the competition and still reach the Grand Final.
As well as that, Club Call was brought in. A hugely divisive concept, it allowed the highest ranked team from the regular season who won a match in the first week of the play-offs to pick who they played in week three.
Leeds selected Catalans, beat them at Headingley before going on to win the Grand Final.
2013: Super League reduces to 12 teams for 2015
However, within just a few years of going to 14, Super League was reduced in 2023 when plans were confirmed for a reduction to 12 teams yet again. And that wasn’t all..
2015: The Super 8s are introduced for the first time
Relegation returned: sort of. A radical structure overhaul saw the top two divisions split into three eights at the end of the regular season, with the Qualifiers determining who took the final four places in Super League the following year.
The teams finishing fourth and fifth in that eight-team league contested the Million Pound Game. Wakefield beat Bradford in the inaugural edition.
2019: Super League scraps the Super 8s and returns to one up, one down
But after just four years, the Super 8s were gone and consigned to the rugby league bin. In its place came a traditional, conventional one-up and one-down system between Super League and the Championship.
2022: Promotion and relegation is replaced with IMG’s gradings system
And after a few years, everything changed again: this time in the most radical way ever imagined.
Super League agreed a 12-year strategic partnership with IMG and approved a recommendation to bring in a gradings system that would determine which teams made it to the top-flight.
It has officially been live for just one year: with Wakefield replacing London. It looks set to be gone sooner, rather than later.
2025: Super League expands to 14 teams for 2026 with two different methods used to select the 14
And now, another dramatically radical structure change. Will this one work, or will we be back again in a few short years?
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