Million Pound Game

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (August 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Million Pound Game

Current season or competition: 2021 RFL Championship
Sport	Rugby league
Instituted	2015
Number of teams	2
Country	England (RFL)  Canada  France
Holders	Toulouse Olympique (1st title)
Most titles	Six-way tie (1 title)
Broadcast partner	Sky Sports BBC Sport (Highlights)

Million Pound Game (stylized as £1M Game) is an annual playoff final rugby league game that decides which Championship team will be promoted to Super League the following season. Between 2015 and 2018, the game was played as part of The Qualifiers until the 2019 league restructure when it became the final of the top 5 playoff series.

History[]

It was proposed in 2014 and instigated in 2015, with the restructuring of the Rugby League season by the Rugby Football League.^[1]

At an RFL extraordinary general meeting in 2018, the clubs voted to scrap the Super 8s and revert to a one up one down system between Super league and the Championship as used previously.^[2] The Championship clubs voted to bring back the playoffs as a way to decide who gets promoted. A top 5 playoff system was decided to be the best format as it had previously been used between 2003 and 2007, the final being called the Championship play-off final and billed as the Million Pound Game.^[3]

Format[]

2003–2014: Championship Grand Final[]

2015–2018: The Qualifiers[]

At the end of the regular season, the bottom 4 teams in the Super League played the top four teams in the Championship in a league of eight. The top three teams were awarded a place in Super League whilst teams finishing fourth and fifth play each other for the final Super League place in a game called the Million Pound Game.

2019–present: Playoffs[]

For the 2019 season, the Super 8s were scrapped and it was decided a playoff series would be used to decide promotion to Super League. The top 5 Championship teams would compete in the playoffs with the Million Pound Game final being held at the home of the highest seeded team.

Results[]

Year	Winner	Score	Runner up	Venue	Attendance
2015	Wakefield Trinity	24–16	Bradford Bulls	Belle Vue	7,236
2016	Salford Red Devils	19–18	Hull Kingston Rovers	Craven Park	6,562
2017	Catalans Dragons	26–10	Leigh Centurions	Leigh Sports Village	6,888
2018	London Broncos	4–2	Toronto Wolfpack	Lamport Stadium	9,246
2019	Toronto Wolfpack	24–6	Featherstone Rovers	Lamport Stadium	9,974
2020	Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[4]
2021	Toulouse Olympique	34–12	Featherstone Rovers	Stade Ernest-Wallon	9,235

Winners[]

	Club	Wins	Last win	Runners-up	Last final lost
1	Toronto Wolfpack	1	2019	1	2018
2	Wakefield Trinity	1	2015	0	N/A
3	Salford Red Devils	1	2016	0	N/A
4	Catalans Dragons	1	2017	0	N/A
5	London Broncos	1	2018	0	N/A
6	Toulouse Olympique	1	2021	0	N/A
7	Featherstone Rovers	0	N/A	2	2019, 2021
8	Leigh Centurions	0	N/A	1	2017
9	Hull Kingston Rovers	0	N/A	1	2016
10	Bradford Bulls	0	N/A	1	2015

See also[]

• Championship Grand Final
• League 1 Promotion Final

References[]

External links[]