The 2020 Challenge Cup known as the Coral Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the 119th staging of the Challenge Cup, the main rugby league knockout tournament for teams in the Super League, the British national leagues and a number of invited amateur clubs. The defending champions are Warrington Wolves who beat St Helens 18–4 at Wembley Stadium on 24 August 2019. The format of the competition remains as eight knock-out rounds followed by the final. The final was scheduled to be played on 18 July instead of the August bank holiday weekend. However on 16 March, the structure and timing of the competition was placed in doubt, as all rugby league games were suspended indefinitely, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The suspension was followed, on 19 May 2020, with confirmation from the Rugby Football League of the postponement of the Challenge Cup Final, which had been scheduled for 18 July at Wembley Stadium. The suspension remained in force until 17 July when it was announced that the competition would resume on 22 August, with the intention for the final to now be played on Saturday 17 October.
Round details
*Toulouse Olympique declined to participate in the competition.
Entry
Entry into the Cup is mandatory for the English and Welsh professional teams, but is by invitation for all other clubs, either professional or amateur. French side Toulouse declined to enter for 2020, after also declining to play in previous years. Canadian side Toronto Wolfpack rejoined the competition after declining to play in the 2019 competition and will play all ties they are involved in away from home. Serbian club, Red Star who played in 2019 declined an invitation to enter in 2020 due to the demands the trip to England made on their players.
On 16 March 2020, the RFL announced that all rugby league games had been suspended initially, until at least April, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, on 24 March, Rugby League clubs held a Board meeting via conference call, attended in part by senior officials of the Rugby Football League, for further discussion of how to respond to the current public health crisis. It was agreed that until further notice, all rugby league fixtures would be suspended indefinitely. The competition recommenced with the sixth round was rescheduled to 22 August after the RFL announced that rugby league could return from 2 August.
First round
The draw for the first round was made at the home of community club Bentley, near Doncaster. Ties will be played over the weekend of 11–12 January 2020.
Second round
The draw for the 2nd round was made at the studios of BBC Radio Leeds and broadcast live on air. Ties will be played over the weekend of 25–26 January 2020.
Third round
The draw for the 3rd round was made live from Rochdale Hornets Crown Oil Arena. Ties were played on the weekend of the 8–9 February 2020. Several matches scheduled for 9 February were postponed due to the adverse weather caused by Storm Ciara and played the following weekend.
Fourth round
The draw for the fourth round was made live on BBC Sport, live from Halifax's MBI Shay Stadium Ties will be played over the weekend of 21–23 February 2020.
Fifth round
The draw for Round Five was streamed live on BBC Sport, and Our League, on Monday 24 February, 6.30pm, live from Hull Kingston Rovers’ Hull College Craven Park. Rovers are one four Super League clubs joining the competition at this stage, alongside Huddersfield Giants, Toronto Wolfpack and Wakefield Trinity. Ties will be played over the weekend of 14–15 March 2020.
Sixth round
The draw for the sixth round was made live from MediaCityUK in Salford on Monday 16 March 2020, and was streamed live on BBC Sport, and the Our League app from 6:00pm. Originally scheduled to be made in New York, the draw was moved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Defending champions Warrington, start their defence of their title at this stage, alongside Castleford, Catalans, Hull FC, Leeds, Salford, St Helens and Wigan. Ties were scheduled to be played over the weekend of 4–5 April 2020, however, due to the suspension of all rugby league games as part of the United Kingdom's response to the coronavirus pandemic, meant that these dates were speculative and therefore rescheduled for a later date. On 17 July 2020, the RFL announced that a full revised schedule for the Challenge Cup would resume on 22 August with a double header at the John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield. Warrington would have played Wigan at 2:30pm, in a tie shown live on BBC1. This match would have then been followed by Salford v St Helens at 5pm, shown live on BBC2. However, due to the ongoing events with the Covid-19 pandemic, Toronto Wolfpack announced on 21 July that they would be taking no further part in the Challenge Cup due to financial restrictions. With Toronto's withdrawal and the abandonment of the Championship and League 1 competitions, the RFL held a meeting on 27 July to consider the future of the cup competition. The following day, the five non-Super League teams left in the cup; Featherstone Rovers, Newcastle Thunder, Sheffield Eagles, York City Knights, and Widnes Vikings, all announced that they were withdrawing from the competition. In response to this, the RFL announced that the whole of the sixth round was to be redrawn, involving just the 10 Super League sides remaining in the competition. Four teams would play in the revised sixth Round, with the six remaining teams not to receive a tie for this round automatically gaining a bye to the quarter finals. The two sixth round ties will still be played as a double header at the John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield as previously announced, with both ties being televised live on the BBC.
