The 2024–25 Coupe de France Lord Derby was the 84th edition of the

Coupe de France Lord Derby The Coupe de France Lord Derby (), or just Coupe Lord Derby ('Lord Derby Cup'), is the premier knockout competition for the sport of rugby league football in France, as well as the name of its championship trophy. The tournament was first conte ...

, the premier

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

knockout competition in France. It began over the weekend of 19–20 October 2024 and ended with the final at the

Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié The Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié is a multi-use stadium in Narbonne, France. The stadium is currently used mostly for rugby union matches and is the home stadium of RC Narbonne. The stadium is able to hold 12,000 people and was built in 1979 ...

, Narbonne, on 5 April 2025. The defending champions were

AS Carcassonne Association Sportive of Carcassonne are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Carcassonne in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in the south of France. They play in the French Super XIII and are one of th ...

who defeated

FC Lézignan XIII Football Club de Lézignan (often referred to as the Lézignan Sangliers) are a semi-professional rugby league, rugby league football club based in Lézignan-Corbières in the Departments of France, department of Aude in the south of France. They ...

in the 2023–24 final to win the cup for a third consecutive time. In the 2024–25 final,

Saint-Estève XIII Catalan Saint-Estève XIII Catalan are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Perpignan in the region of Pyrénées-Orientales in the south of France. Founded in 2006 following the transfer of Catalans Dragons from the French rugby league system ...

defeated Albi RL XIII 26-18 to reclaim the trophy they had last won in the 2017–18 season.

Background

The 84th edition of the

, started on 19 October 2024 and concluded with the final on 5 April 2025. Entry was limited to teams in the top two divisions:

Super XIII Super XIII is the top level rugby league competition in France, sanctioned by the French Rugby League Federation. The season runs from September to April, which is in contrast to the majority of other major domestic rugby league competitions w ...

(11 teams) and Elite 2 (9 teams). Eight of the teams from Elite 2 took part in a play-off round with the four winners advancing to the round of 16 where they were joined by the remaining teams who entered the competition at this stage:

Palau Broncos Palau XIII Broncos also known as Palau XIII or Palau Broncos are a professional rugby league team based in Palau-del-Vidre in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie region in the south of France. They currently play in the Elite 2 (rug ...

, who received a bye in the first round, and the Super XIII teams.

Format and dates

Play-off round

The draws for the play-off round and the round of 16 were made on 12 September. Ties were played over the weekend of 19–20 October.

Round of 16

Ties were played over the weekend of 4–5 January.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 10 January. Ties were played on the weekend of 8–9 February.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was made on 14 February. Ties are to be played on the weekend of 22–23 March at neutral venues.

Final

The final of the 2024–25 Coupe de France Lord Derby was originally scheduled to take place on the weekend of 3–4 May. However, in March 2025 it was announced that it would be played on 5 April at the

preceded by the final of the Luc Nitard Cup (under-19s).

had last won the cup in the 2017–18 competition and then reached the final again the following season. Their opponents,

Albi Albi (; ) is a commune in France, commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department, on the river Tarn (river), Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ...

, had previously won the cup once, in the 1973–74 season, and last reached the final in the 2022–23 season. In the 2024–25 final, Saint-Estève XIII Catalan led 16-10 at half time, Albi then levelled the score, and took the lead with around 30 minutes to play, before two tries from Saint-Estève XIII Catalan saw them take the trophy with a 26-18 win. The attendance for the final was 4,488. Before the Lord Derby match, Toulouse Olympique won their third consecutive Luc Nitard cup with a 48-36 win over Saint-Estève XIII Catalan.

Teams

Albi RL XIII: Romain Franco, Nittim Pedrero, Hnaloan Budden, Adrien Salies, Théo Guinguet, Brad Wall, Tony Gigot, Benjamin Shea, Mathieu Liauzun, Chase Bernard,

Corentin Le Cam Corentin Le Cam (born 8 June 1999) is a French rugby league footballer who last played as a forward for St Estève in the Elite One Championship, on dual-reg loan from Catalans Dragons in the Super League and France at international level. He ...

, Jayson Goffin, Mickael Goudemand
''Interchanges'': Clément Tailhades, Maxime Puech, Louis Tailhades, Tristan Dupuy, Maxime Rostang, Théo Lardot
''Coaches'': Joris Canton and Fabien Denis Saint-Estève XIII Catalan: Tanguy Zenon, Léo Darrelatour, Clément Martin, Lenny Marc, Corentin Rey, Bruno Castany, Caesar Red, Franck Maria, Yacine Ben Abdeslem, Florian Vailhen, Lucas Tignol, Loan Castano, Thibaud Margalet
''Interchanges'': Giovanni Descalzi Ganthier, Robin Hugues, Renaud Lapierre, Valentin Fernandez, Rayan Tadjeur, Léo Llong
''Coaches'': Justin Murphy and

Rémi Casty Rémi Casty (born 5 February 1985) is a former French international professional rugby league footballer and current assistant coach for Toulouse Olympique in the Super League. He played for the Sydney Roosters in 2014 before returning to Cata ...

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord Derby Cup 2024-2025 Rugby league competitions in France 2024 in French rugby league 2025 in French rugby league