The 2018 Challenge Cup Final was the 117th cup-deciding game of the rugby league 2018 Challenge Cup Season. It was held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 25 August 2018, kick off 15:00. The final was contested by

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

and

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

. The game saw Catalans Dragons beat Warrington Wolves by 20 points to 14 and saw the Dragons win the competition for the first time.

Background

This would be

second appearance in a Challenge Cup Final having come runners-up to St Helens during the

2007 Challenge Cup Final The 2007 Carnegie Challenge Cup Final was played by the holders St. Helens and Catalans Dragons at the new Wembley Stadium on 25 August 2007. The Dragons were the first French club ever to take part in the competition's final. After a competi ...

. By contrast, this would be 18th cup final and the 5th of the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

era, having most recently achieving a runners-up place in 2016, and winning the competition in 2009,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Route to the final

Catalans Dragons

Having played in the qualifiers during the 2017 Super League, Catalans Dragons entered in one round earlier than their finalist opponents. In the fifth round they drew eventual League 1 champions

York City Knights The York Knights are the men's professional rugby league team of York RLFC (known as the York City Knights from 2002 to 2022) based in York, England. The Knights played their home games at Huntington Stadium before moving to Bootham Crescent. ...

who they beat 34–22. The sixth round saw them face a second League 1 team,

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...

who they thrashed 56 points to 10. The quarter finals saw the Dragons play Super League side

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

beating them 20 points to six. In the semi-finals, Catalans Dragons beat eventual Super League league leaders St Helens 53 points to 16 to reach the final.

Warrington Wolves

Warrington Wolves drew

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

Toronto Wolfpack The Toronto Wolfpack are a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario, who compete in the North American Rugby League. The club originally competed in the British rugby league system but withdrew in the 2020 Super Leagu ...

, thrashing them 66–10, before nilling rivals

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

, scoring 23 points, to reach the semi-finals. The semi-final saw the Wolves comfortably beat relegation threatened

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

48-12 to reach the final.

Match details

Post match

As winners of the 2018 Challenge Cup Final,

became the first non-English team to win the tournament. Unfortunately, the match attendance of 50,672 was the lowest since the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The presence of

, a French team, in the final was thought to be a factor; despite an attendance of almost 35,000 more making the journey to Wembley for the

where the Dragons finished as runners-up.

References

{{2018 in rugby league Challenge Cup finals

Challenge Cup final The Challenge Cup of Rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season, 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley Bulldogs, Batley and St Helens R.F.C., St. Helens at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Headingley, ...

Warrington Wolves matches August 2018 sports events in the United Kingdom