Premier Sports Challenge Cup 2022 Format

Photo: Dean Woolley

The 2022 Premier Sports Challenge Cup begins this weekend with Coventry and Guildford the first teams out of the blocks, while defending champions Sheffield begin their trophy defence a week later. Here's how the format will work this season.

Group Stage
There are three groups, each containing three teams. Each team will play the other two teams in their group twice at home and twice away.

Group winners will advance directly to the Quarter-Finals as seeds.

The remaining five teams shall be ranked according to their points percentage, with those placed 4-8 also advancing to the Quarter-Finals. The team ranked ninth will be eliminated.

In the event of a tie, teams will be separated according to the Tie-Break rules.

Quarter-Finals
Group winners are seeded according to their points percentage in the group stage. The Quarter-Finals will then be played as follows: 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5.

Matchups will be contested over two legs with aggregate scoring determining the winners.

Semi-Finals
The highest-ranked team left in the competition will play the lowest-ranked, while the second highest-ranked will play the second lowest-ranked.

Matchups will be contested over two legs with aggregate scoring determining the winners.

Final
The 2022 Premier Sports Challenge Cup Final shall be played as a one-off event in March 2022.

Note: in all playoff rounds, the higher seeded team has the option of playing the second leg at home.