The 2025 Challenge Cup final was the 124th final of the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

knock-out competition. The final was contested by

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

and

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

Background

The Warrington Wolves returned to the Challenge Cup Final following their defeat to the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

in the

2024 Challenge Cup final The 2024 Challenge Cup Final was the 123rd final of the Rugby Football League's Challenge Cup knock-out competition. The final was contested by Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves. This was the first time since 1990 that both teams had met in t ...

. Their most recent Challenge Cup victory was in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, when they defeated St Helens to win their ninth title. Warrington qualified for the cup final placed seventh in the 2025 table. By comparison, the 2025 Challenge Cup final will be Hull Kingston Rovers' ninth final, having lost to the

Leigh Leopards The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. Leigh play homes games at Leigh Sports Village and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. ...

in a golden point finish at the

2023 Challenge Cup final The 2023 Challenge Cup Final was the 122nd final of the Rugby Football League's Challenge Cup knock-out competition. The 2023 final marked its return to Wembley Stadium after its one year hiatus at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2022 Challen ...

. Their only win of their previous nine was a Hull Derby victory in 1979–80. Hull Kingston Rovers, who finished second in the 2024 Super League table and were also runners-up at the

2024 Super League Grand Final The 2024 Super League Grand Final, Naming rights, named the 2024 Betfred Super League Grand Final for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th official Super League Grand Final and the championship-deciding rugby league game of the 2024 Super League se ...

, qualified for the cup final placed first in the 2025 table.

Route to the final

Warrington Wolves

Hull Kingston Rovers

Pre-match

Ten years from her first appearance singing the anthems at the 2015 Challenge Cup Final in tribute to her husband and

Keighley Cougars The Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Cougar Park and compete in RFL League 1, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, British rugby le ...

player

Danny Jones Daniel Alan David Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1984–2005'' (born 12 March 1986) is a British singer, songwriter and musician who is one of the lead vocalists and the lead guitarist for pop-rock band McFly. From ...

, Lizzie Jones sang

Abide with Me "Abide with Me" is a Christian hymn by Scottish Anglican cleric Henry Francis Lyte (1793–1847). A prayer for God to stay with the speaker throughout life and in death, it was written by Lyte in 1847 as he was dying from tuberculosis. It is m ...

and

God Save the King "God Save the King" ("God Save the Queen" when the monarch is female) is ''de facto'' the national anthem of the United Kingdom. It is one of national anthems of New Zealand, two national anthems of New Zealand and the royal anthem of the Isle ...

ahead of the match. Pre-match entertainment was also provided by

Capital XTRA Capital XTRA (formerly Choice FM) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Global. It broadcasts on 96.9 and 107.1 FM in Greater London, and nationally on DAB, Global Player and television platforms. It specialises in hip ho ...

DJ Kennedy Taylor. Wembley hosted the 2025 RFL

Champion Schools The Champion Schools tournament (known as the Carnegie Champion Schools due to sponsorship) is a full contact knock-out rugby league football competition open to every secondary school in England, Scotland and Wales and is the largest rugby leag ...

final, known as the Steven Mullaney Memorial Game, which saw St Helens' Rainford High School rugby league team beat

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

's Sirius Academy West team 40–0, marking a record scoreline for the 50th iteration of the final. Wigan Warriors Women and St Helens Women, the latter winning the 2024 final, played in the preceding women's final. Wigan defeated St Helens 42–6 to claim their first Challenge Cup.

Match details

Teams

Post match

Hull Kingston Rovers 2025 Challenge Cup Victory Parade Elliot Minchella Trophy Lift 01

The 2025 RFL 1895 Cup final between

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

and

York Knights The York Knights are the men's professional rugby league team of York RLFC, based in York, England. The club play their home games at York Community Stadium and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of Briti ...

took place following the men's final, seeing York defeat Featherstone in

golden point The golden point, a sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn matches in a number of sports. The term is borrowed from soccer's now-defunct golden goal. Rugby league Australia The golden point is used to determine a winner (where a ...

extra time 5–4. A victory parade was held on a boat travelling along

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

's River Ouse the following day. Also a day after their final, Hull Kingston Rovers held a victory parade from their home stadium at

Craven Park Craven Park may refer to: * Craven Park (Barrow), home of Barrow (rugby league) * Craven Park, Hull, current home of Hull Kingston Rovers (rugby league) * Old Craven Park, former home of Hull Kingston Rovers (rugby league) * Craven Park (London), a ...

Hull City Hall Hull City Hall is a civic building located in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Located in Queen Victoria Square in the city centre, it is a Grade II* listed building. History The hall, which was designed by Hull's City ar ...

. The final had a peak UK television viewership of 1.2 million.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Challenge Cup Final

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Challenge Cup Final The Challenge Cup of rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley and St. Helens at Headingley, Leeds. In the seasons during the Second World War the final was played over two legs, with the aggregate s ...

Challenge Cup Final, 2025 Warrington Wolves matches Hull Kingston Rovers matches