What a year it has been in inter-collegiate sport! Take a look at the roundup below for each of the college sports leagues during 2024-25.
The ’Cambridge University Sports Leagues’ network provides a straightforward way to view league tables, fixtures, results and contact information for all interested parties, including team captains, players, and students keen to take their first steps in college sport, as well as University and College staff & alumni. Powered by Playwaze, the competitions are all viewable via the ‘Cambridge University Leagues’ app, available in app store.
Please direct all queries to collegesport@sport.cam.ac.uk.
Badminton
Thanks go to Mark Li (Churchill) from the Cambridge University Badminton Club for his efforts in coordinating the College Badminton League and Cuppers this year, including an open and women’s league, as well as open, mixed and women’s Cuppers.
With 68 teams across open and women’s leagues, and 31 colleges, badminton is one of the college leagues with the highest number of people involved, also including a number of teams from schools and colleges around Cambridge.
Basketball
After winning the league in Michaelmas term, Churchill College won every league game during Lent to secure another league title in Division 1.
CU Hellenic Society and St Catharine’s were promoted from Division 2, replacing Girton and Wolfson in Division 1. Elsewhere Caius/Clare won Division 3, Christ’s won Division 4, and St Edmund’s won Division 5.
Jesus College saw off the challenge from Hellenic Society to secure the Cuppers title this year, overcoming Robinson, Churchill and Lucy Cavendish in earlier rounds.
Meanwhile the re-launch of the Plate competition saw the final contested by Peterhouse and Selwyn/Clare Hall.
As it stands there are 25 teams in total across 5 divisions, and 29 colleges represented.
Cricket
The annual Cuppers competition, played in a T20 format, was contested by 25 teams, with five groups of five making up the group stage. The 8 best placed teams from the group stage then progressed to the knockouts – Trinity, Christ’s, St Catharine’s, Jesus, Robinson, Gonville and Caius, Downing, and Magdalene/Trinity Hall.
Following the quarter final matches, four teams progressed to the eagerly anticipated annual Finals Day at Fenners Cricket Ground. First up were Trinity vs. Jesus, with Jesus scoring well to secure their place in the final, and they were followed up by Robinson vs. Magdalene/Trinity Hall in the second semi-final.
Despite being in control for most of the match, a late flurry of boundaries from Magdalene/Trinity Hall incredibly saw them take the game to the last ball. Watched on by a large crowd who had moved as close as possible to the action, and needing a four to win the match, a fast bowl from CUCC Vice-Captain, Stan Norman, took out the stumps to finish the game with a brilliant wicket in dramatic fashion.
Onto the final in the afternoon, and on a blazing hot day Jesus won the toss and sent Robinson out to field again, having just spent an hour and a half out there in their semi-final. However, Robinson coped well with the heat, bowling Jesus out for 108 after 17 overs, before setting a steady rate to secure the victory after 14 overs with a score of 112/2.
A huge congrats to Robinson College on their first ever Cuppers Cricket title.
Football
In the Women’s League, teams played a ‘World Cup’ format for Cuppers, with a group stage followed by knockout, alongside their regular league matches.
As always, Cuppers was hotly contested, with the eventual finalists being Newnham/Pembroke and Darwin/St. Edmund’s/Wolfson. ‘Newbroke’ won 4-1 on the day, and the match took place as part of a Finals Day at Grange Road Rugby Ground - the first Cuppers finals for several years to be held at the famous ground, and the last ever on the grass pitch, with the installation of a brand new all-weather surface underway this summer.
The Plate final was won by Queens’, overcoming Downing in the final. A huge congratulations were in order for both teams, for completing their league and cup fixtures and reaching the Plate final while competing as solo colleges.
Over in the league, Jesus pushed them all the way, but Darwin/St. Edmund’s/Wolfson won a consecutive Division 1 league title despite having only formed in the past few years, while Caius/Hughes/Catz and Trinity/Trinity Hall/Emmanuel gained promotion from Division 2.
There are currently two divisions of 14 teams, with every college represented in the league.
Over in the men’s league, Fitzwilliam College retained the Premier Division title, winning every match, but once again couldn’t find a way to reach the Cuppers final this year. Fitz had reached the Cuppers final every year since 2017 up until 2023, while remarkably they have won the Premier Division in seven of the last eight seasons too, with their last league defeat in January 2022, and they’ll be looking to reach the Cuppers Final in 2026.
The 2025 Cuppers final was contested by Jesus College and Trinity Hall, both making their first appearances in the final for many years. Congratulations to Jesus College, who celebrated their first Cuppers trophy since 2014 - the same year that Trinity Hall last won the College Premier League - Jesus have come close to College League title in recent years, but the elusive Cuppers title has always been out of reach until now! With nerves of steel, Jesus took a narrow victory on penalties in what was a tight contest.
Commiserations to underdog finalists Trinity Hall, who have spent nine years outside the top division of college football, including narrowly avoiding relegation from Division 2 in the last two seasons. A fantastic achievement from them to have reached the Cuppers final!
Elsewhere there were consecutive promotions for Sidney Sussex 2 and CU ISoc, while St Catharine’s 2 won the Shield competition for a second year running too.
With 58 teams, the men’s football league has the highest number of Cambridge students participating of any college sport league. Thanks go to Aaron Kay (Clare), Aaran Mehmood (Emmanuel) and Kata Csiba (Homerton) for their efforts as League Secretaries in 2024-25.
Hockey
The college league and Cuppers event during Lent and Easter term were superbly coordinated by Cambridge University Hockey Club League Secretary, James Russell (Girton) .
St. John’s College demonstrated their strength in depth, running 4 teams in total (joined with Newnham), with their 1st team being the team to beat, going unbeaten in Division 1 during Lent, although they were pushed all the way to the title by Jesus.
In the Cuppers competition, all of the matches were held at Wilberforce Road Sports Ground for the first time. The 2024 champions were King’s/Sidney/Homerton, who overcame all challengers in the earlier rounds, and then St John’s in the final, with strong representation by Cambridge University Hockey Club on both teams.
Continuing to show their strengths on the field and their commitment to college hockey, St John’s / Newnham were shortlisted for the College Team of the Year award category at the annual University of Cambridge Sports Awards. Fielding four teams each year requires the club to constantly welcome new members to a supportive environment, and the dedicated committee go above and beyond to make the club about more than hockey.
With two divisions of 17 teams in total, and 27 colleges represented, the league has a great platform for growth.
Lacrosse
St Catharine’s College narrowly pipped Emmanuel to the Division 1 mixed lacrosse league title, with both teams level on points and separated by a tiebreaker.
In Division 2, St John’s and Robinson/Selwyn gained promotion to Division 1.
The annual Cuppers event was held on Saturday 3rd May, alongside Hockey Cuppers – with some players dashing between fixtures to compete for their college in hockey and lacrosse!
15 teams took part in the event, which included a group stage and knockout rounds. Emmanuel and Clare/Homerton progressed to the final, with Emmanuel the eventual winner.
Netball
It was a huge effort from Selwyn College to take a mixed and ladies Division 1 double title! Having gained promotion to the top leagues in Michaelmas 2024, they took the top divisions by storm, winning both at the first attempt in an unprecedented show of netballing fortitude.
Despite their heroics in the league, they couldn’t quite repeat the same feat at Cuppers. Selwyn made it to the final of the Mixed Cuppers final, where they narrowly missed out to a Trinity College team that had been runners up in Division 1.
In the Ladies Cuppers competition, a hotly contested competition saw Jesus College take a 12-9 victory over St John’s College at the end of a marathon day of Netball at the University Sports Centre.
In the Ladies league, coming up from Division 2 are league winners Downing and second placed St. John’s, and in Division 3 Pembroke win the league with Trinity close behind, to secure a consecutive promotion.
Over in the mixed league, Pembroke College 2nd team showed the strength of Netball at the college, winning Division 2 to head up to join the 1st team in Division 1. They were joined in promotion by Christ’s College, while Robinson and Sidney Sussex gained promotion from Division 3.
The outstanding netball club this year, Selwyn College, were deservedly shortlisted for the College Team of the Year Award at the annual Sports Awards, after a year in which they won five competitions! This included winning the Mixed Netball League for the first time in 7 years, and the second time in Selwyn history, as well as winning all of their games in the group stages of cuppers and making it through to the finals for the first time since 2020.
Rowing
Onto the May Bumps, and with term coming to a close, the weather shone down upon the Cam to provide ideal racing conditions for the crews, and sunshine for spectators on the banks!
Lady Margaret maintained the Head of the River in the men’s event, while Jesus College moved up to the top spot in the women’s.
There were particularly impressive performances throughout the week, including:
- Peterhouse M1 moving up from 10th in Division 1 to 2nd, with a star-studded lineup of CUBC and GB rowers
- Pembroke W1 achieving Blades and moving from 9th to 5th, with their sights on Headship in 2026
- St Edmund’s College won the Pegasus Cup, awarded to the best performing college at the May Bumps. The Club described it as the “perfect week”, including 13/13 Bumps for their M1, M2 and W1! Truly an incredibly impressive achievement.
For a much more detailed round-up of the event, student Joshua Prince provided an excellent report in Varsity Newspaper.
Squash
It was a term to remember for Fitzwilliam College, who won Division 2 to gain promotion to the top league, and were ranked as one of the favourites at Cuppers. They managed to live up to the billing too, overcoming St Edmund’s in a tightly contested final 3-2.
St Edmund’s themselves had experienced a disrupted season, struggling to field a team but finding a strong five for the Cuppers event.
Elsewhere in the league, there were league win for Emmanuel, Sidney Sussex and Clare/King’s.
With 28 teams and 20 colleges represented in the league, this is already one of the biggest college leagues.
Table Tennis
An outstanding year for Downing College Table Tennis saw their first team win Division 1 in Michaelmas and Lent term, while their second team won Division 2 in Lent, gaining promotion to the top tier, having also won their league in Michaelmas.
In the Cuppers competition, this was similar Downing-dominated, with Downing winning the Cuppers title against Girton in the final.
With their outstanding performances on the court in mind, Downing were shortlisted for the College Team of the Year award category at the annual University of Cambridge Sports Awards, where they won the category. A remarkable transformation during 2024/25 meant that despite having entered zero teams in 2023/24, didn’t even have an official table tennis club, nor did it enter any teams in the previous year’s Lent League or Cuppers. However, significant student interest led to the club’s revival, while obtaining college funding providing the basis for their activities.
This included free, coached, weekly table tennis sessions open to all Downing students. Over 40 students attended these sessions, of which half also played for one of Downing's four teams in College League or Cuppers. Lastly, shared table tennis equipment was acquired, and an £800 competition-grade table was purchased for student use. Within a year, the club has managed to become the best, the most active, and the most accessible college table tennis club in Cambridge
With 30 teams across 6 divisions from 19 colleges, the league is growing each year. Huge thanks go to Raghav Misra (Magdalene) for his efforts in organising the college league this year.
Tennis
Ever popular at Cambridge, with 40 teams contesting the league during Lent-Easter, the champions last term were Christ's College.
Other league wins included Sidney Sussex, from Division 5 and Emmanuel, from Division 3. A super year for King’s College saw their 1st team win Division 2 to gain promotion to the top league, while their 2nd team won Division 4. King’s Tennis were shortlisted for the College Team of the Year award category at the annual University of Cambridge Sports Awards, after seeing impressive growth this year, expanding from 15 to over 70 members, reflecting the team’s inclusive atmosphere and stronger engagement across the college.
The Cuppers event was contested during the Easter term, with Downing reaching the finals to play against Pembroke. The eventual winners after a long match were Pembroke, Captained by Harry Dalton, a just reward for Harry and team having organised training sessions throughout the year at the Pembroke courts, as well as the indoor centre at Hills Road throughout the winter months. Pembroke also won matches against Churchill, Queens’, and Clare in previous rounds.
Ultimate
An ever-growing sport at Cambridge, the college Ultimate Flying Disc league is run by the University Ultimate Club.
Jesus College retained their crown as champions of the Indoor Cuppers event held at the University Sports Centre, as well as a strong league finish in Division 1 of the outdoor league.
Churchill/Murray Edwards became champions of the Outdoor Cuppers event once again, with victory secured by a single point in the final.
14 teams participate in the regular outdoor college league across two divisions, while there were also 14 competing at the Indoor Cuppers. The Cuppers event was brilliantly organised by College League Secretary Aldric Goh (St Catharine’s).
Volleyball
24 teams contested the annual Volleyball Cuppers event this year, which ran during Easter term at the University Sports Centre. The eventual winners were Clare/Fitzwilliam, who made it to two victories in two consecutive years.
The excellent participation levels in the tournament come as a result of the Cambridge University Volleyball Club’s efforts to establish a development squad – weekly training for aspiring players – as well as the success of the Give it a Go Volleyball sessions – giving beginners a chance to play regularly for free - which engaged over 80 students during the year, and were fully booked all year round!
20 Colleges were represented in the annual event, with plans for a bigger event in 2025-26 as the sport continues to grow at Cambridge!
Find out more
Check out the league tables, fixtures, and results here: https://playwaze.com/university-of-cambridge-college-sport/bz928p8ct7/community-network?NetworkCode=univ4255
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Alternatively, head to our website and read more on the College Sport page.