Round 1 Will be contested by forty eight amateur teams. They will include National Conference Division 1 and 2 clubs, plus other top amateur teams from all over the country.
Round 2 The twenty four victorious clubs from Round 1, will be joined by the thirteen clubs from the National Conference Premier Division, to give seventeen ties.
Round 3 For the first time, two French clubs have been invited to participate in the Challenge Cup. Villeneuve and St Gaudens, will join the eighteen professional clubs from the Premiership and the seventeen winners from Round 2, to make nineteen ties. The professional clubs will be seeded, so that all have a home tie against amateur or French opposition.
With a disparity in numbers, due to the amalgamation of Gateshead and Hull, the RFL announced that Hunslet (as Premiership champions) will be seeded into the Fourth Round and that one losing team from the Second Round, will get a second chance. That team is Eccles, which was decided by ballot.
Round 4 Twelve Super League clubs and Hunslet, enter the competition, to join the twenty winners from Round 3, making for sixteen ties.
Round 5, onwards The competition proceeds on a straight knock-out basis. The semi-finals will be played at neutral venues and the Final Tie will take place at Murrayfield Stadium, in Edinburgh.
| Third Round Losers (Amateur Clubs) | £1,200 |
| Third Round Losers (Premiership Clubs) | £4,400 |
| Third Round Losers (French Clubs) | £6,500 |
| Fourth Round Losers | £5,400 |
| Fifth Round Losers | £9,000 |
| Quarter Final Losers | £17,000 |
| Semi Final Losers | £22,400 |
| Runners Up | £55,000 |
| Winners | £120,000 |