When is the rugby league 2026 World Club Challenge? Date, time, venue, history, How to watch Brisbane Broncos vs Hull KR.

After a controversial years, The World Club Challenge will return to being played when Super League champions Hull KR host NRL title holders Brisbane Broncos next year.

Fresh from ending a historic 2025 campaign as Super League champions for the first time, Willie Peters' side battle the NRL Grand Final winners for global supremacy in the annual cross-hemisphere battle.

Aussies' Brisbane Broncos will be aiming to become the first NRL club to win the World Club Challenge since Sydney Roosters in 2020.

When is the Rugby League 2026 World Club Challenge?

The match will be played on Thursday, February 19—that’s nine days before Hull KR play Leeds Rhinos as part of the 2026 Las Vegas Weekend and roughly two weeks before the Brisbane Broncos play their opening match of the 2026 NRL season.

What time does the 2026 World Club Challenge start?

The Brisbane Broncos vs Hull KR match will kick off time is set at 7.30pm local time (GMT) which is 5.30am on Friday, February 20 in Queensland (AEST) and 6.30am (AEDT).

Where is the 2026 World Club Challenge being played?

The Brisbane Broncos vs Hull KR match will be played at MKM Stadium in the city of Kingston upon Hull in England with a fan capacity of around 25,000.

Curiously, MKM Stadium is actually the home ground of Hull KR’s arch rivals in the Super League, Hull FC.

Who is playing in 2026 Rugby League World Club Challenge?

2025 Betfred Super League champions Hull KR will face NRL's Telstra Premiership winners Brisbane Broncos at the MKM Stadium on Thursday 19 February.

The game is set to mark a rapid return to the UK for some of Australia's stars of the Ashes, series such as Reece Walsh, Kotoni Staggs and Patrick Carrigan, to face Hull KR's England trio Mikey Lewis, Jez Litten and Joe Burgess.

Who won the last 2024 Rugby League World Club Challenge?

The match did not take place in 2025 because the Penrith Panthers could not agree a date to play Wigan Warriors, with this being the first edition since 2024 when Wigan Warriors beat Penrith Panthers at the Brick Community Stadium.

Who won the last-time Rugby League World Club Challenge?

Brisbane has won the World Club Challenge twice in the club’s history and last featured in 2007 losing 18-14 to St. Helens in Manchester.

Hull KR will be making its World Club Challenge debut in a massive moment for the Yorkshire club.

What is the history of the rugby league World Club Challenge?

The rivalry between Australian and English rugby league champions has a proud and passionate history that fans on both sides of the world can celebrate.

The very first meeting between the two hemispheres’ top clubs took place back in June 1976, when the Eastern Suburbs Roosters outclassed St Helens 25–2 at the Sydney Cricket Ground — a moment that sparked international interest in determining the world’s best club side.

It wasn’t until October 1989, however, that the showdown became official with the birth of the World Club Challenge, as Widnes Vikings defeated the Canberra Raiders 30–18 at Old Trafford.

Since then, 29 thrilling encounters have been played, with English teams narrowly leading the overall tally 15 wins to 14.

At the top of the honours list sit two giants of the game — the Sydney Roosters and Wigan Warriors — each crowned world club champions five times, a testament to the fierce trans-Tasman and trans-Atlantic spirit that continues to unite and ignite rugby league fans in Australia, New Zealand, and England alike.

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