International Rugby League

What International Rugby League does

International Rugby League (IRL) is the sole global governing body for the sport of rugby league, headquartered in London with a staff of approximately 27. The organization traces its institutional history to the 1948 establishment of the Rugby League International Board and was rebranded from the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) to IRL in 2019. IRL has held responsibility for the Laws of the Game since 1998 and serves 54 member nations organized across four regional confederations: Americas Rugby League, Asia Pacific Rugby League, European Rugby League, and Middle East Africa Rugby League.

IRL's product and service portfolio includes the Member Portal for match sanctioning and annual audits, the Technical Education Portal delivering Level 1 and Level 2 Coach and Match Official qualifications, the World Rankings System across Men's, Women's, and Wheelchair categories, the Golden Boot Award, and a WADA-compliant anti-doping program operated in partnership with Clean Game since December 2019. The organization sanctions and organizes international competitions including the Men's, Women's, and Wheelchair Rugby League World Cups, the Pacific Championships, and regional championships.

As a non-profit international federation, IRL generates revenue through recurring membership fees from its 54 member nations and licensing/broadcasting rights from sanctioned international fixtures and World Cup events. GTM is event-driven, with the organization operating through member federations and regional confederations to coordinate competition calendars, governance, anti-doping compliance, and technical education across the sport globally.

Name

International Rugby League

Legal name

International Rugby League

Website

https://intrl.sport

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

International Rugby League is the London-based non-profit global governing body for rugby league, serving 54 member nations across four regional confederations with competition sanctioning, technical education, world rankings, and anti-doping oversight.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

International Sports Federation Governance

NAICS

Spectator Sports (71121), Other Spectator Sports (711219)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997)

akta.pro primary industry

International Sport Federations (IFs) (MPAKAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Rugby (Union & League) Leagues (MPAKAAAG), Regional/Continental Confederations & Associations (MPAKAFAD)

Keywords

• International sports federation
• Rugby league governance
• World Cup sanctioning
• Coach education programs
• Anti-doping compliance

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: IRL generates revenue through membership fees from its 19 Full Members, 16 Affiliate Members, and 19 Observer Members across regional confederations
2. Event Sanctioning and Broadcasting Rights: Revenue from sanctioning international test matches, World Cups (Men's, Women's, Wheelchair), and Pacific Championships with broadcasting rights

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

International Rugby League is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league, providing governance, competition sanctioning, Laws of the Game (since 1998), official World Rankings, technical education programs for coaches and match officials, anti-doping oversight, and organization of international competitions including the Men's, Women's, and Wheelchair Rugby League World Cups held concurrently every four years. It serves 54 member nations across four regional confederations (Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East Africa).

Product overview

International Rugby League operates as a governing body offering a suite of digital platforms and services. The core products include the IRL Member Portal for national federation operations (sanctioning matches, membership audits), the Technical Education Portal for coach and match official qualifications (Level 1/2 with CATO/CATO+ continued professional development), and the Match Details System for competition management. Additional services include World Rankings calculation, the Golden Boot Award, and an Anti-Doping Program with online education through WADA Code compliance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• IRL Member Portal

Quantifiable outcome

• 82 sanctioned international fixtures in 2025
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Clean GamecoreTechnology or Integration · 6 December 2019Independent anti-doping partner appointed in December 2019 responsible for all aspects of IRL's anti-doping function including education, risk assessment, test planning, compliance with WADA's Anti-Doping Code, and member relations. Clean Game is an NGO based in Serbia operated by officials responsible for national anti-doping systems in several countries.
• European Rugby LeaguecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional confederation managing rugby league development across Europe with 40 Senior Internationals played in 2025. ERL was the first international sports federation to undertake Sports Integrity Global Alliance's independent governance review, achieving 98% compliance rating.
• Asia Pacific Rugby League (APRL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional confederation managing rugby league across Asia Pacific including Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Pacific nations. Key partner in organizing RLWC2026.
• City of BramptonmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost city for IRL Women's Rugby League World Series 2025 in Ontario, Canada. Key partner enabling the inaugural tournament with infrastructure and commercial support including medical, broadcast, food vending and event promotion sectors.
• CBC (Canada's National Public Broadcaster)majorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational public broadcaster of Canada that streamed all four games of the Women's World Series 2025, attracting over 45,000 viewers - more than some high profile international events shown on the same channel.
• Alaro CityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Nigerian Rugby League Association to host high performance camp at Rugby School Nigeria and Alaro City, integrating multinational delegation under one high-performance framework for World Series preparation.
• Rugby School NigeriaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerElite training venue for Nigeria's high performance camp supporting women's rugby league development and World Series 2025 preparation.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• World Athletics: World Athletics (formerly IAAF) is the international federation for athletics, sharing IRL's membership-and-events model and small-headcount operating approach. It is relevant as a comparable IF that sells media rights around major quadrennial events and championships.
• FIFA: FIFA is the international federation for association football, sharing the same governance, World Cup, and rankings model as IRL but at vastly larger scale. It is relevant as the canonical example of how international federation IP can be commercialized and is the comparable upper-bound for any IF's commercial trajectory.
• International Basketball Federation: FIBA is the international federation for basketball, with a comparable governance and World Cup structure but a substantially larger professional ecosystem underpinning it. It is relevant as a benchmark for how a basketball-scale IF commercializes international competition.

Direct peers

• International Ice Hockey Federation: IIHF is the international federation for ice hockey, with the same member-federation, World Championship, and event-sanctioning model as IRL. It is a relevant peer for an IF that relies on a small set of strong national federations (Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, USA) to anchor international commercial value.
• International Volleyball Federation: FIVB is the international federation for volleyball, structured similarly to IRL with member federations, regional confederations, and World Championships organization. Comparable in scale, geographic spread, and dependence on a small set of mature member markets.
• World Rugby: World Rugby is the international governing body for rugby union, the closest direct peer to IRL given the shared 'rugby' category, identical federation model (member national unions, regional associations, Laws of the Game ownership, World Cup organization), and overlapping commercial and broadcast markets.
• Union Cycliste Internationale: UCI is the international federation for cycling, comparable to IRL as a sport-specific IF governing Laws of the Game, World Championships, and a global calendar across member federations with concentrated European traditional markets.
• International Cricket Council: ICC is the global governing body for cricket, with an analogous structure: member national cricket boards, regional groupings, World Cup organization (Men's, Women's, T20), and Laws of the Game ownership. It offers a comparable model of an international federation monetizing a single global tournament property.
• International Handball Federation: IHF is the international federation for handball, with a similar scale and structure to IRL: member national federations, regional confederations, Men's and Women's World Championships, and concentrated traditional markets (Europe). It is a close analogue for IF economics at IRL's scale.
• International Hockey Federation: FIH is the international federation for field hockey, mirroring IRL's structure: member national associations, regional confederations, World Cup organization (Men's and Women's), and a relatively small permanent staff running a global sport with concentrated traditional markets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/EuroRugbyLeague
• Facebookfacebook.com/InternationalRugbyLeague
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/intrl

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about International Rugby League