National Rugby League
| Current season, competition or edition: 2025 NRL season | |
| Sport | Rugby league |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1998 |
| First season | 1998 |
| CEO | Andrew Abdo |
| No. of teams | 17 |
| Country | Australia (16 teams) New Zealand (1 team) |
| Headquarters | Rugby League Central, Sydney, New South Wales |
| Current premiers | Penrith Panthers (6th title) |
| Most premiers | South Sydney Rabbitohs (21 titles) |
| Broadcaster(s) | Australia: Nine Network Fox League New Zealand: Sky Sport Prime |
| Streaming partner(s) | Kayo Sports (Australia) 9Now (Australia) WatchNRL (Overseas) |
| Sponsor(s) | Telstra |
| Level on pyramid | Level 1 |
| International cup(s) | World Club Challenge |
| Related competitions | New South Wales Cup Queensland Cup |
| Official website | NRL.com |
The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, and New Zealand.
Tracing its origins back to the New South Wales Rugby League, which formed in 1908, rugby league competition in Australia had gone through numerous iterations, including the 1990s Super League war, by the time the NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the News Corporation-controlled Super League. The partnership was dissolved in 2012, with control of the NRL going to the re-constituted ARL, which was re-structured with an independent board of directors and renamed the Australian Rugby League Commission.
The season typically runs from March to October, with each team playing 24 matches. The first-placed team at the end of the regular season awarded the minor premiership. This is followed by a finals series contested between the eight highest-placed teams from the regular season. The season culminates in the premiership-deciding grand final. The winners compete in the World Club Challenge against the champions of the English Super League. The reigning premiers are the Penrith Panthers, having won their sixth premiership, and fourth consecutive, in 2024.