The 2025 Women's Challenge Cup (sponsored as the Betfred Women's Challenge Cup) was the 13th staging of the Rugby Football League's cup competition for women's rugby league clubs. defeated 42–6 in the final to claim their first title.
Format The competition used a slightly different format from 2024. Although the group stage plus knockout rounds format was retained, the number of teams in the competition was reduced from 16 to 12.
The group stage saw four groups of three competing in a single round robin with the group matches played over three consecutive weekends in April 2025. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the knockout rounds. The quarter-finals were played on the last weekend in April. The semi-finals were double headers with the semi-finals of the men's tournament on the weekend of 10/11 May 2025, and the final was played at Wembley Stadium, London on 7 June 2025 alongside the finals of the men's competition and the 1895 Cup.
St Helens, winners in 2024, were seeded together with Leeds Rhinos, Wigan Warriors and York Valkyrie. These four, pool 2, were in different groups in the group stage. The other eight teams formed pool 1 with two being drawn in each group. + Seeding pots for group stage draw Pool 1 Pool 2 Barrow Raiders Cardiff Demons Featherstone Rovers Huddersfield Giants Leigh Leopards London Broncos Sheffield Eagles Warrington WolvesLeeds Rhinos St Helens Wigan Warriors York Valkyrie
The draw for the group stages was made on 14 January.
The groups were drawn as follows: + Groups Group A Group B Group C Group DCardiff Demons St Helens Warrington WolvesFeatherstone Rovers Huddersfield Giants York ValkyrieLeeds Rhinos Leigh Leopards Sheffield EaglesBarrow Raiders London Broncos Wigan Warriors
Standings Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group stage The fixture list for the group stage was announced on 10 March 2025. + Group stage: week oneGroupHomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance C Leeds Rhinos 46–4 Leigh Leopards 5 April, 13:00 Headingley Stadium S. Jenkinson A Warrington Wolves 14–42 Cardiff Demons 6 April, 14:00 Victoria Park M. McKelvey D Wigan Warriors 84–0 Barrow Raiders 6 April, 14:00 Robin Park A. Billington B Huddersfield Giants 0–56 York Valkyrie 6 April, 15:00 Laund Hill A. Sweet Source:
+ Group stage: week twoGroupHomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance C Sheffield Eagles Leeds Rhinos 12 April, 12:30 Steel City Stadium O. Salmon A St Helens 102–0 Warrington Wolves 12 April, 15:30 Totally Wicked Stadium L. Bland B York Valkyrie 54–6 Featherstone Rovers 13 April, 12:00 York Community Stadium A. Belafonte D London Broncos 0–44 Wigan Warriors 13 April, 14;00 Chiswick Rugby Club Tyler Topping Source:
+ Group stage: week threeGroupHomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance B Featherstone Rovers 8–36 Huddersfield Giants 18 April, 20:00 Post Office Road N. Horton A Cardiff Demons 0–54 St Helens 19 April, 14:30 Cardiff University L. Breheny D Barrow Raiders 14–22 London Broncos 20 April, 12:00 Craven Park L. Seal C Leigh Leopards 48–0 Sheffield Eagles colspan="4" Source:
Quarter-finals The quarter-finals took place over the weekend of 26/27 April.
+ Challenge Cup quarter-final fixturesHomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance St Helens 78–0 London Broncos 26 April, 12:00 Totally Wicked Stadium F. Lincoln Leeds Rhinos 38–18 Huddersfield Giants 27 April, 12:00 Headingley Stadium L. Seal York Valkyrie 52–0 Leigh Leopards 27 April, 12:00 York Community Stadium S. Jenkinson Wigan Warriors 96–0 Cardiff Demons 27 April, 13:00 Robin Park A. Billington Source:
Semi-finals The semi-finals were played over the weekend of 10/11 May and were double-headers with the men's semi-finals. Both matches were broadcast live on the BBC iPlayer. + Challenge Cup semi-final fixturesHomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance 14–44 10 May 2025, 12:00 York Community Stadium T. Jones York Valkyrie 6–10 11 May 2025, 13:45 Totally Wicked Stadium A. Williams Source:
Final
The final took place on Saturday 7 June 2025, as part of a triple header, alongside the Men's final, and the 1895 Cup final.
+ Challenge Cup FinalHomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance 6–42 7 June; 11:45 Wembley Stadium A. Moore 8,810Source:
Notes
References