Current season or competition: 2024 World Club Challenge | |
Sport | Rugby league |
---|---|
Instituted | 1976 |
Inaugural season | 1976 |
Number of teams | 2 |
Nations | Australia England France New Zealand Wales |
World Champions | Wigan Warriors (2024) |
Most titles | Sydney Roosters Wigan Warriors (5 titles) |
Broadcast partner | Nine Network Sky Sport Sky Sports BBC Sport NITV |
Related competition | National Rugby League Super League World Club Series |
The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australian National Rugby League and the British Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport.
Super League sides have won the competition 15 times with National Rugby League sides having 14 wins.
The first such match was played in 1976, although this was not an official competitive game. The first official World Club Challenge saw Widnes Vikings beat Canberra Raiders 30–18 at Old Trafford on 4 October 1989, after which it became a semi-regular fixture, thought was paused in the 1990s due to the Super League war. The competition has been held every year since 2000 (excluding 2020–2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Sydney Roosters and Wigan Warriors have both won the competition 5 times, the joint highest in all formats since the competition began.
Wigan Warriors are the current champions, defeating Penrith Panthers 13–12 in 2024 at the DW Stadium in front of a sell out crowd of 24,091.