Super League Grand Final

The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League play-offs. The winning team receives the Super League Trophy and goes on to play the NRL champions in the World Club Challenge. As of 2024, the Rob Burrow Award is awarded to the man of the match, replacing the Harry Sunderland Trophy. The match is normally played at Old Trafford in Greater Manchester.

Six clubs have won the Super League, as of 2026 – St Helens (10), Leeds Rhinos (8), Wigan Warriors (7), Bradford Bulls (4), Hull KR (1) and Wakefield Trinity (1). St Helens and Bradford Bulls each won one of their Super League titles before the Play Off and Grand Final system was introduced in 1998.

Wakefield Trinity are the current champions, after winning the 2026 Super League Grand Final, defeating Warrington Wolves 23–10, to win their first title since 1968.

Background

Use of a play-off system to decide the Championship brought back a rugby league tradition that had fallen out of use in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The Premiership replaced the Championship final but it was to decide the Premiership winners, not the Championship winners. The Premiership was discontinued after the introduction of the Super League play-off series in 1998, ending with the Super League Grand Final, the concept inspired by the NRL Grand Final in Australia. The inaugural Grand Final match was played that year on Saturday 24 October, between Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos.

Venue

The Grand Final has been held on a Saturday at Old Trafford in Manchester every year since 1998. The only exception to this was the 2020 final, which as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic causing fixture congestion with Manchester United F.C.'s 2020–21 season, was rescheduled to be held at the KCOM Stadium in Kingston upon Hull. The match was also held on a Friday night for the first and only time in its history.

CityStadiumYears ManchesterOld Trafford 1998–2019, 2021–2027 HullKCOM Stadium 2020

Trophy The winners of the Super League collect the Grand Final rings and the team's name, captain and year are engraved into the trophy. The winners also collect £100,000 with the runner up collecting £50,000.

Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield currently holds the record for captaining the most Super League title winning sides after leading Leeds to seven of their Grand Final successes. St Helens contested the final six consecutive seasons (from 2006 until 2011) during which time they succeeded only once in lifting the trophy, against Hull F.C. in 2006, after which they suffered consecutive defeats against Leeds in 2007, 2008, 2009, Wigan in 2010 and Leeds once again in 2011.

Awards

The Rob Burrow Award is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in the Super League Grand Final by the Rugby League Writers' Association. The award was introduced in tribute to Rob Burrow for the 2024 Grand Final; Burrow, who won eight grand finals with Leeds Rhinos and has been awarded the Harry Sunderland award himself twice (2007 & 2011), died in June 2024 of Motor Neurone Disease. The inaugural Rob Burrow Award was handed to Wigan Warriors stand-off Bevan French by Rob Burrow's father Geoff Burrow following the conclusion of the 2024 final on 12 October.

Before 2024, the trophy was named the Harry Sunderland Trophy in tribute to Harry Sunderland, who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom. The Trophy was first awarded in the Rugby Football League Championship Final of the 1964–65 season following Sunderland's death and was retained with the introduction of the Super League Grand Final in 1998.

Finals

The Super League Grand Final has been the championship-deciding game since Super League III in 1998:

YearWinnersScoreRunner-upAttendance1998 Wigan Warriors10–4 Leeds Rhinos43,5331999 St Helens8–6 Bradford Bulls2000 St Helens Wigan Warriors2001 Bradford Bulls37–6 Wigan Warriors 60,1642002 St Helens19–18 Bradford Bulls 61,1382003 Bradford Bulls25–12 Wigan Warriors 65,5372004 Leeds Rhinos16–8 Bradford Bulls 65,5472005 Bradford Bulls15–6 Leeds Rhinos 65,7282006 St Helens26–4 Hull F.C. 72,5752007 Leeds Rhinos33–6 St Helens 71,3522008 Leeds Rhinos24–16 St Helens 68,8102009 Leeds Rhinos18–10 St Helens 63,2592010 Wigan Warriors 22–10 St Helens 71,5262011 Leeds Rhinos 32–16 St Helens 69,1072012 Leeds Rhinos26–18 Warrington Wolves 70,6762013 Wigan Warriors30–16 Warrington Wolves 66,2812014 St Helens14–6 Wigan Warriors 70,1022015 Leeds Rhinos22–20 Wigan Warriors 73,5122016 Wigan Warriors12–6 Warrington Wolves 70,2022017 Leeds Rhinos24–6 Castleford Tigers 72,8272018 Wigan Warriors12–4 Warrington Wolves 64,8922019 St Helens23–6 Salford Red Devils 64,1022020 St Helens8–4 Wigan Warriors02021 St Helens12–10 Catalans Dragons 45,1772022 St Helens24–12 Leeds Rhinos 60,7832023 Wigan Warriors10–2 Catalans Dragons 58,1372024 Wigan Warriors9–2 Hull Kingston Rovers 68,1732025 Hull Kingston Rovers24–6 Wigan Warriors 68,8532026 Wakefield Trinity23–10 Warrington Wolves 71,728

Results + Grand Final winners and runners up ClubWinnersRunners-upYears wonYears runner-up St Helens51999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021, 20222007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Leeds Rhinos832004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 20171998, 2005, 2022 Wigan Warriors771998, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2023, 20242000, 2001, 2003, 2014, 2015, 2020, 2025 Bradford Bulls332001, 2003, 20051999, 2002, 2004 Hull Kingston Rovers1120252024 Wakefield Trinity102026 Warrington Wolves052012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2026 Catalans Dragons022021, 2023 Hull F.C.012006 Castleford Tigers012017 Salford Red Devils012019

The Double

The Treble

The Quadruple

Pre-match entertainment YearAct1998rowspan=6199920002001200220032004Heather Small2005Madness2006Deacon Blue2007Björn Again2008Scouting for Girls2009The Wombats2010Diana Vickers2011Feeder2012rowspan=220132014James2015The Charlatans 2016Feeder2017Razorlight2018Blossoms2019Shed Seven2020rowspan=3202120222023Reverend and the Makers2024The Lathums2025The Pigeon Detectives

Match records Largest margin of victory: 31 points Bradford 37–6 Wigan (2001)

Smallest margin of victory: 1 point St Helens 19–18 Bradford (2002)

Highest scoring: 48 points Leeds 32–16 St Helens (2011)

Lowest scoring: 11 points Wigan Warriors 9–2 Hull KR (2024)

Highest attendance: 73,512 Leeds vs Wigan (2015)

Lowest attendance: 43,533 Leeds vs Wigan (1998)

Super League Grand Final

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