Betfred Challenge Cup draw to be show on BBC Sport this Tuesday

Hull KR will join the Road to Wembley in the Betfred Challenge Cup draw on Tuesday evening – with the draw broadcast live by BBC Sport from 6:30pm.

The Betfred Challenge Cup has a new format which will see the 12 Betfred Super League clubs enter at an earlier stage, in the last 32 – again in a seeded draw, which guarantees that each of them will be drawn away to one of the 20 Second Round winners.

That means Super League clubs will now need to win four matches to reach Challenge Cup Finals Day at Wembley in June – and guarantees a range of David versus Goliath style ties in the Third Round along similar lines to Tamworth v Tottenham in football’s FA Cup.

As a result of the postponement of 14 of the 17 First Round ties scheduled for the weekend just gone, there will be 31 community teams with an involvement in Tuesday evening’s Third Round draw, in addition to 23 from Betfred Championship and League One.

The 20 Second Round ties have each been given a number in the order they were drawn in Goole before Christmas – for example, the winners of BBC Sport’s selected Second Round tie between London Broncos and Goole Vikings will be number 7.

The draw will begin with one ball being drawn to face each of the 12 Betfred Super League clubs – starting with Wakefield Trinity, who return to the elite in 2025 having won the Betfred Championship and the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup last season, and concluding with Wigan Warriors, the Betfred Super League and Challenge Cup holders.

The remaining eight balls will then be drawn in four more ties to complete the line-up of 16 ties for the Third Round, to be played on the weekend of February 7-9.

Betfred Challenge Cup Third Round draw

Ball numbers

· 1 - GB Police, York Acorn, London Chargers or Oulton Raiders

· 2 - Halifax Panthers, Thatto Heath or Orrell St James

· 3 - Dewsbury Moor, Haresfinch or Dewsbury Rams

· 4 - Barrow Raiders, Crosfields or Maryport

· 5 – Mirfield, Royal Navy or Workington Town

· 6 - London Broncos or Goole Vikings

· 7 - Lock Lane, Doncaster Toll Bar or Hunslet RLFC

· 8 - Waterhead Warriors, Leigh Miners or Featherstone Rovers

· 9 - Wests Warriors, British Army or RAF

· 10 - Whitehaven or Swinton Lions