Rugby League News | York Knights and Toulouse selected for Super League
The teams for the 2026 Super League season have been confirmed
York Knights and Toulouse Olympique will compete in an expanded 14-team Super League next season after being selected for promotion by an independent panel.
Author | Greg S
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| York had success at Wembley this season |
Fellow Yorkshire side Bradford Bulls secured their return to the top flight on Thursday, replacing the financially troubled Salford Red Devils after climbing from 16th to 10th in this year’s grading system. The move paves the way for three Championship sides to join the Super League from 2026.
Earlier this year, the 12 existing Super League clubs voted in favour of expansion to 14 teams from next season, marking the first time the competition has featured that number since 2014.
York will make their Super League debut, while Toulouse will return to the top division following their single-season spell in 2022.
READ MORE | Super Local Sports News Yorkshire will have more fan reaction to this news
Nine clubs submitted applications, which were assessed by a panel chaired by Lord Jonathan Caine and comprising Rugby Football League (RFL) non-executive directors Abi Ekoku and Dermot Power, RFL chief executive Tony Sutton, interim head of legal Graeme Sarjeant, RL Commercial managing director Rhodri Jones, and Super League (Europe) board member Peter Hutton.
2010 called, it wants its meme back
— York RLFC Knights (@YorkRLFC) October 17, 2025
Too bad. Mash is taking it into @SuperLeague ๐ pic.twitter.com/qak9gL9VnO
Clubs were judged on their financial performance in 2025, projected sustainability between 2026 and 2028, and their ability to "field a competitive team in 2026 and beyond".
York, who topped the Championship table and lifted both the League Leaders’ Shield and the 1895 Cup at Wembley, were founded as a phoenix club in the early 2000s. Their promotion marks the return of top-flight rugby league to the city for the first time since the 1985–86 season.
Toulouse, established in 1937, were briefly forced to switch to rugby union during the Vichy regime in World War Two but rejoined rugby league in 1945. They reached consecutive French Championship finals in the post-war years and became the first French club to reach the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup in 2005.
๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐
— Toulouse Olympique XIII (@TOXIII) October 17, 2025
Le Toulouse Olympique fait son grand retour dans l’รฉlite du rugby ร XIII europรฉen : ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ @SuperLeague ๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐ ! ๐คฉ
Merci ร tous pour votre soutien sans faille. Ensemble, nous allons รฉcrire une nouvelle page de notre… pic.twitter.com/YX6XopOsFj
The post above roughly translates as “TO SUPER LEAGUE. Toulouse Olympique makes its grand return to the elite of European rugby league: heading to @SuperLeague in 2026! Thank you all for your unwavering support. Together, we will write a new chapter in our history.”
Having first joined the British league system in 2009, Toulouse have competed regularly within it since 2016. They were relegated from Super League in 2022 after finishing bottom in their debut season but beat York earlier this month to win the Championship Grand Final.
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