Rugby League: Wembley Tickets on Sale

The first tickets for a cup final at the new Wembley have gone on sale, but they are for rugby league, not football.

In a move that could be seen as either a declaration of confidence or a leap of faith, the Rugby Football League has put tickets on sale for the return of the Powergen Challenge Cup final to the rebuilt stadium next year.

The League has dismissed fears that the stadium redevelopment may run behind schedule, and has not even taken the precaution of booking Cardiff's Millennium Stadium - which has staged the last three FA Cup finals - as an alternative venue.

"We don't see any need to do that, because we are confident that Wembley will be ready for us," said the RFL's executive chairman Richard Lewis.

The RFL understands the first major event at Wembley will be a football match, but it believes there is enough slack in the schedule for the stadium to be available to it on August 26. A spokeswoman for Wembley said, however, that the stadium was still expecting to stage the FA Cup final on May 13.

The League has a commitment to take a major game to Wembley every year, although the popularity of the Cardiff weekend means a Great Britain international could be played in London as an alternative in future years with the Challenge Cup final returning to Wales.

But the League is confident Wembley's historic importance to the code, and curiosity about the redevelopment, will ensure huge demand for tickets next year. It has also announced a two-year extension to Powergen's sponsorship of the competition.