A new look and format for the Netball Super League in 2025 with London's iconic O2 to host the Grand Final on Sunday July 6; the inaugural Netball Super Cup will open next season on International Women's Day on March 8
Thursday 14 November 2024 18:16, UK
The relaunched Netball Super League will stage its Grand Final at The O2 in London for the first time in 2025 as the new-look competition revealed its fixtures and changes to its format for next season.
As part of the overhaul aimed at further growing the sport and accelerating the road to professionalism over the next decade, the NSL revealed the "significant milestone" of taking the Grand Final to the iconic O2 when the season-ending match takes place next year on Sunday July 6.
In further revisions, the new season will open with a brand-new tournament - the Netball Super Cup - which will be held on International Women's Day, Saturday March 8, next year when all eight teams in the revised league will head to the Utilita Arena Sheffield to compete for the first trophy of the campaign.
Both the Netball Super Cup and the Grand Final will be live on Sky Sports.
The regular-season games start on Friday March 14 with teams competing for league points across the first of 14 match rounds.
The top four teams at the end of the league season then progress to the semi-finals on June 20-22, ahead of a new preliminary final on the weekend of June 28-29 before the showpiece Grand Final at The O2 on July 6.
Watch live coverage through the season on Sky Sports.
"We're thrilled and extremely proud to bring the 2025 NSL Grand Final to The O2 in London for the very first time and to showcase this electrifying event to our growing audience," said Claire Nelson, Netball Super League's managing director.
"It's only fitting that our showpiece event takes place at one of the most prestigious arenas in the world and this will be a significant moment for our sport as we deliver not just a world-class event, but also an unforgettable experience for fans, players and everyone involved.
"This coming season, our league will be even bigger and better than ever before with lots of exciting new things for our existing and new fans to experience.
"So bringing our first season in the new era to a climax in a venue as iconic as The O2 will be a major moment for us all, and will make a real statement for the ambitions we have for our league and the boundaries that we will continue to push."
Defending champions Loughborough Lightning have won the past two Netball Super League titles, and three of the past four, and goal attack Ella Clarke said the prospect of appearing in another final, this time at The O2, would be a dream come true.
"To get to the final, that's our main aim again, we want a threepeat," Clarke told Sky Sports.
"I mean playing at The O2 I think is what most athletes dream of.
"It's one of the most iconic venues in England so it'll be great for the final to be here and hopefully Loughborough are in it."
The new-look Netball Super League, which has also revealed a striking revised logo, features eight instead of the previous 10 teams in 2025 and reduced playing squads (12 to 10 players), with the average salary to increase by at least 60 per cent.
Six of the eight teams in the 2025 NSL already featured in the previous set-up - Leeds Rhinos, London Mavericks, London Pulse, Loughborough Lightning, Manchester Thunder and the renamed LexisNexis Cardiff Dragons.
Birmingham Panthers have joined the league to build on the success of Severn Stars, while Nottingham Forest Netball is the other new entrant for 2025, an entity owned and managed by the Premier League football team.
"It's fantastic for women's sport, we want to put it on a bigger platform," said Birmingham Panthers' Ruth Hughes on the changes to the league.
"We want to engage many more fans, and I think the change in Super League this year is the way forward and the way to go for netball.
"It's fantastic to be a part of a club that's grown from the start so that's really exciting, working with [head coach] Jo Trip again. That's fantastic. I'm so excited to see what we can put out as a team."
Significantly, half of the new season's matches will take place at major arenas across the country in order to draw bigger crowds and improve the experience for fans.
"I think the sport's been developing for such a long time, but I feel like this is the new step we had to take forward," said London Mavericks' Emma Thacker, who plays at goal shooter/goal attack.
"I'm so grateful to be a part of this new set-up and I'm really excited to see where we can go this season as a club but also as a sport as well.
"Arenas are great and packing them out is so important but also for those, it's not always accessible for everyone to watch every team up and down the country.
"So, I think having live footage of us playing helps to build the sport and helps gives that accessible nature to everyone as well."
Tickets for the Netball Super Cup go on sale to England Netball members from 10am on Thursday October 10, before general sale starts from 10am on Monday October 15.
