Worcester Warriors announce return to elite level rugby
The club will join the revamped second tier for the 2025/26 season
Last updated 3rd Apr 2025
Worcester Warriors have announced their return to elite level rugby.
The Warriors have confirmed today (Thursday 3rd April) they will join the revamped second tier of English rugby union for the 2025/26 season.
They played their last match back on 24 September 2022 at Sixways, beating Newcastle Falcons 39-5 before falling into administration just days later.
In May 2023, Atlas were announced as the new owners of the club, but in April 2024 a statement on the club's website said Atlas Worcester Warriors had entered administration in the hope of bringing professional rugby back to Sixways.
Loxwood Holdings said they would be taking control of the club after they "stepped in" to financially assist Atlas Worcester Warriors in completing its purchase of the former Worcester Warriors Rugby club from its administrators.
The statement added that financial assistance was only intended to be a "short-term position to help and assist in the eventual recovery of Worcester Warriors", but Atlas were "unable to meet its ongoing financial obligations".
A new group was then formed in Junction 6 Limited, who submitted an 'expression of interest' for the club to join the second tier of the professional game in England back in October.
The formal application of the process to be a part of the league was submitted in November, before redevelopment plans for the ground were also announced in December.
Proposals by Junction 6 Limited included increasing the capacity of the ground from 11,500 to 12,750, along with an on-site 120 bed hotel aimed at boosting the economy and tourism.
Further parts of plans included a national centre for Esports, and improved transport connections, with a view to re-introduce shuttle bus services to and from the city centre and rail station on matchdays.
They'll now start to put together a team ahead of the new season.
Christopher Holland, Worcester Warriors owner said:
"We are really pleased to be bringing rugby back to Worcester and have made significant progress in stabilising the Sixways business as well as successfully navigating the detailed application process for entry of the club into the second tier of professional rugby in England.
"After careful consideration we chose to make the application to the new league under the name Worcester Warriors to preserve its history and legacy. As a result, we are required to settle rugby creditors and acknowledge and fully own this process and the responsibility that comes with it.
" We now enter a defined period in which to provide financial guarantees, and to idnetify, validate and agree all inherited rugby creditors. The completion of this process is the key to success and requires the collective support of all involved. We are committed to resolving this quickly."
Championship changes
The new Warriors will bring with it a reorganisation of the Championship.
The current 12 teams will remain in the League, to be joined by Worcester and the promoted team from National League One - making up a 14 team competition for 2025-26.
Simon Gillham, Tier 2 Board Chair, said: "The vision for this league is really ambitious and so much work and collaboration has taken place over nearly two years to establish a patch towards a vibrant and self-sustaining competition.
"Today marks a significant step forward with Worcester Warriors returning to professional rugby under new ownership in a heartland for our sport with the club's new owners having provided a financial security guarantee, held by the RFU, as well committing to paying off debts left by the previous owners to rugby creditors.
"Worcester Warriors brings with them a fanbase, history, commercial value and infrastructure that will be important to the league; we're really pleased to see their return to professional rugby as I'm sure are their fans."
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