Championship play-offs to be shown live on Sky Sports as format confirmed

A top-six play-off leading up to the Million Pound Game will determine which Championship team earns promotion to Super League in 2022.

The top two in the final regular season table will earn a bye through the first round of the play-offs, before playing the winners of sudden death fixtures in the same format adopted by Super League in 2020.

The games will be played over a three-week period from September 25 to October 10, and will be shown live on Sky Sports.

In League 1, the team finishing top will earn automatic promotion to the Championship, with the teams finishing second to sixth participating in the play-offs.

Clubs will be required to have played 70% of their league fixtures to qualify for the play-offs, with the league table determined by points percentage, as per Super League in 2020.

This is to accommodate likely disruption caused by COVID-19, particularly relating to Toulouse, with the RFL expected to make an announcement about how the revised quarantine restrictions will impact the early season in the coming days.

Clubs will be allowed to withdraw from fixtures if seven or more players are either tested positive or forced to isolate through test and trace protocols.

The Championship season gets underway on Good Friday, April 2, with League 1 not kicking off until Saturday May 8.