World Club Challenge
| World Club Challenge | |
|---|---|
Current season or competition:: 2017 World Club Series
|
|
 |
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| Sport | Rugby league |
| Instituted | 1976 |
| Inaugural season | 1976 |
| Number of teams | 2 |
| Countries |
 Australia England
|
| Champions |
 Wigan Warriors (4th title) (2017)
|
| Most titles |
Wigan Warriors (4 titles)
|
| Broadcast partner |
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| Related competition |
World Club Series Super League NRL |
| Tournaments | |
|---|---|
The World Club Challenge is an annually held competition between the winners of the Australian NRL and the European Super League. The first such match was played in 1976 but did not become a regular fixture until the late 1980s. It was also punctuated in the 1990s by the Super League war but has been held every year since 2000. The Wigan Warriors are the current champions, having defeated the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 22-6 in 2017.
The World Club Challenge is now the championship match for the World Club Series which began at the beginning of 2015. The World Club Series includes two other games, these games are exhibition matches before the main game, the World Club Challenge. As the World Club Challenge is a match between the premiers of the NRL and the Super League Champions, it has been possible for teams from New Zealand, France and Wales to win it as well as England and Australia, however, to date only English and Australian sides have competed in and won the World Club Challenge.
The competition began so unofficially in 1976 as a match between Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and Premiership winners St Helens. In 1987, another unofficial match took place when Wigan chairman Maurice Lindsay invited Manly-Warringah to Central Park.
The first official World Club Challenge was between Widnes and Canberra in 1989. Three further matches, each involving Wigan, were staged in the early 1990s with the 1994 match being staged in Australia. This would be the last time for 20 years that this would happen.
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Wikipedia