{"id":820710,"date":"2026-03-12T12:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T12:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/820710\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T12:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T12:24:22","slug":"sheffield-hosts-high-energy-netball-super-cup-as-loughborough-lightning-takes-2026-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/820710\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheffield hosts high-energy Netball Super Cup as Loughborough Lightning takes 2026 title\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the success of last year\u2019s event, Sheffield\u2019s Utilita Arena welcomed the highly anticipated Netball Super Cup last month, marking the second year of the competition.<\/p>\n

The one-day tournament\u00a0 brought together all eight teams from the Netball Super League, attracting fans from across the country and marking the start of the 2026 netball season.<\/p>\n

The Super Cup has once again placed Sheffield at the centre of the sport\u2019s calendar while showcasing the city\u2019s ability to stage large-scale national events with thousands of fans travelling to the city and national broadcast coverage hosted by Sky Sports.<\/p>\n

After a day of fast-paced matches, it was Loughborough Lightning who lifted the trophy following a dramatic 18\u201317 win over Manchester Thunder in the final.<\/p>\n

Lightning captain Nat Panagarry said:\u00a0 \u201cI think we really wanted to use it as a way to prepare for the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow we bring that intensity straightaway after the first whistle, and also how you play the super shot under pressure: that\u2019s what that game is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Captain Nat Panagarry. Image by: Ben Lumley<\/p>\n

For Sheffield, hosting the Super Cup once again highlights the city\u2019s growing reputation as a venue for major sporting events.<\/p>\n

The Super Cup strengthens Sheffield\u2019s position as a host for elite competitions and could help attract more major sporting tournaments to the city in the future while helping to elevate netballs national profile as a growing sport.<\/p>\n

Once again the format of each game was shortened and fan-friendly. <\/p>\n

Teams were divided into two groups of four and played three seven-a-side matches in the group stage, each lasting just 14 minutes.<\/p>\n

Panagarry explained that Lightning\u2019s previous experience of the format helped the team approach the competition differently this time.<\/p>\n

She hoped the momentum created by the Super Cup will continue into the season ahead:<\/p>\n

\u201cSport\u2019s all about that. How do you kind of ride the waves, take momentum? You\u2019ve got to have that belief, you\u2019ve got to trust each other and think we\u2019re only at the start.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

A key feature of the tournament was the return of the \u201csuper shot\u201d, which allows teams to score two points for goals taken from a designated area within the shooting circle, adding an extra tactical dimension to the game.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2019I think this competition just gives you a tiny little glimpse of it all and hoping that\u2019s like a little bit of a teaser and a taster for it ready for the Super League.\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image by: Matt Mcnulty<\/p>\n

Panagarry hopes the Super Cup in Sheffield showed what the competition can offer, with fans and players all relishing the experience at the arena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the success of last year\u2019s event, Sheffield\u2019s Utilita Arena welcomed the highly anticipated Netball Super Cup last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,178591,236255,1620,91174,16,15,236256],"class_list":["post-820710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sheffield","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-netball","tag-netball-super-cup","tag-sheffield","tag-south-yorkshire","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-utilitaarena"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116216193140884367","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}