Championship clubs have hailed promotion to the Premiership as a “new era” for English professional football.
The Rugby Football Union’s Council has approved a two-legged home-and-away play-off between the Premiership’s bottom club and the Championship winner from the 2025-26 season.
It means there could be a shake-up in the standings between the top two divisions for the first time since Saracens returned to the top flight in 2021 after being deductioned 105 points for salary cap breaches and being relegated 12 months ago.
Additionally, at its meeting on Friday, the RFU Council resolved to relax the minimum operational standards for promotion, spreading the deadlines for achieving those standards out over four seasons.
An independently chaired Tier 2 committee will also be established, giving the Championship greater control over commercial dealings.
“We have achieved our objective and our club, and all clubs, can now realistically dream of promotion to the Premier League,” Championship chairman Simon Halliday said.
“A real avenue has now been opened for ambitious clubs to grow, the top tier has reconnected with the rest of English rugby and we can harness our commercial potential to fund the growth that rugby desperately needs at our level.”
After newsletter promotion
“This is an outcome that brings a shared resolve to our sport and ensures that English rugby remains open and fair from the lowest league to the highest.
