The men’s Rugby World Cup expansion has pushed developing nations to pursue a semi-professionalisation of their club competitions, or, at least, arrange a deal for their top players to stay in the game for an extended period.
It is vital to understand that some of these competitions are mostly amateur, even if a small percentage of the player base has a contractual link with a certain club, which is the case in Portugal, Spain or Italy.
In France, rugby’s professionalisation has grown to the point that the fourth division, Nationale 2, has clubs paying full-time contracts to most of their player base.
In Argentina and Uruguay, only amateur players are allowed to play in the local club competitions, and wages of any type are 100 per cent prohibited, remaining a fully non-professional rugby competition.
Unfortunately, not every country/continent has progressed, with Australia’s National Rugby Championship scrapped when COVID struck in 2020. The Australian Super Rugby Pacific academies took their place, but the void still exists, waiting for better days.
From the Gallagher Premiership to Super Rugby Pacific, from the Kenya Cup to Major League Rugby, there’s no shortage of leagues offering deals to players and here’s a list of some of them.
Europe
Gallagher Premiership
With Finn Russell sitting as the highest-paid player in the Gallagher Premiership, England’s prime club competition has employed serious resources to be acknowledged as one of Europe’s finest leagues.
As reported by the Gallagher Premiership board in a report published in last April: “Following the inaugural report for 2020/21, we can now provide further insights with comparison data across three seasons (2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23). For the second consecutive season, the salary cap level in 2022/23 was £5m (down from £6.4m in 2020/21).”
The report also noted that “Fly-half remains the highest-paid position with an average income of £217,761 (up from £217,153). Scrum-half was the lowest, with an average income of £121,104 (down from £132,590).”
RFU Championship
While the Premiership budgets and wages go by the millions of pounds/euros, the same cannot be said about the RFU Championship sides, with the average salary fee set at £25k per year, depending on the team. A more experienced, but in form, player can land a £70k per year contract, but the youngest athletes will have to contend for a lower deal.
The second tier of English club rugby has its share of semi-pro players, with London Scottish being a prime example, paying at most £27k per season to the squad’s best players.
Super Rugby Cymru
The Welsh regional competition, the Super Rugby Cymru, has a salary cap of £150k per team, with the average player being paid £4k a year, as the overall majority of the personnel have a semi-pro status. Known in the past as the Indigo League, the tournament works as a pipeline for the URC Welsh teams.
Energia AIL
Nothing has changed within Ireland’s All-Ireland League, with clubs remaining largely amateur. Despite the inexistence of a wage bill, some players are still paid in a non-official manner, be it a per-match bonus or helping those personnel find a job that allows them to keep up with the club’s training schedule.
Top 14
The Top 14 has become a global behemoth, capturing most of the international crème de la crème. Owen Farrell is currently the highest-earning player, close to one million pounds per season. Antoine Dupont is the top earner amongst the French internationals, bringing in £625k per year, 12x times more than the average annual salary of a Top 14 player.
Toulouse have the largest operating budget in the Top 14, operating with a €46m annual budget with RC Vannes at the opposite side of the spectrum, having spent ‘only’ €17m in the 2024/2025 season. The Top 14 has a salary cap of €10.7m, but teams that supply players to the French national team are allowed to go beyond that limit.
Espoirs academy players are paid a minimum rate of €18-22k per season, upgrading their wages once they sign a full-senior contract.
Pro D2
Concerning the Pro D2, France’s second-tier club competition, the average income of a senior player rates between €75-85k per season. Locks and fly-halves are the best-paid positions, with some of the towering gods of the lineout bringing home a €12k salary per month.
Former England captain and British and Irish Lion Courtney Lawes signed a contract with CA Brive for a €440k annual salary, nothing short of impressive when we are talking about the Pro D2.
CA Brive, Provence, US Oyonnax and US Nevers all have operating budgets above €13m, with the payroll taking up a big slice of the pot.
Nationale
Nationale replaced what was once the Féderale 1 (it still exists but it was downgraded as France’s 5th division). It has a mix of professional and semi-pro teams fighting for a Pro D2 promotion.
More than a few international stars are playing there, like former Wallabies Taqele Naiyaravoro, who signed a contract with Narbonne for an undisclosed deal. Wages can go between €2-10k a month for the median player, but some earn more than €30k or even higher than that number.
Serie A Elite
Things haven’t been easy for the Italian club scene, as some clubs have undergone financial restructuring while others have completely changed their direction and opted for a more amateur approach, allowing Rovigo, Viadana and Petrarca to dominate the league. With talks of Zebre being dropped to allow for a new club franchise to take its place, most of the Italian personnel are not paid, or win a symbolic wage per month.
Didi 10
The clubs from the Georgian top division have made an effort to acknowledge players’ sacrifice and good work, with teams offering an average of 25,000 Georgian Lari per season (an estimated €8k). The personnel involved with the Black Lion franchise have an increased wage, with some of the top players being paid almost €3k a month.
Rugby League Kaufland
Romania’s main club competition has a multi-layered wage situation going on. Those who are currently playing for the Romanian national team can earn a max of €5k a month, but the average salary goes in between €24-26k a year.
As for young promising talents who are starting their journey in the Rugby League Kaufland, they can expect a €500 to €1k monthly payment, which in part explains why there are less Romanian players looking to go abroad.
Top12
Although Portugal’s top division is mostly amateur, there are quite a few players earning €15k a season. However, most of these players are only paid up to 10 months, falling short of being a full-time contract. Even with that (big) caveat, the Top 12 clubs have been able to attract players from South Africa, New Zealand, Wales, Argentina or Australia, with former Chief Sam Henwood and former Pumas Julio Farias having played in Portugal in the 2010s.
Division de Honor
The average salary/prize money in Spain’s top flight varies depending on the player’s status. Whereas top players, often hired abroad, can earn over €22k a year (plus housing and plane tickets), most of the locals remain amateur or are paid per match, limiting their incomes to €4-8k a season.
Ereklasse
The Netherlands has grown for the past five years with the league employing some international quality players, like former Emirates Lions Robbie Coetzee, Te Campbell and a few others. However, only a few Dutch clubs offer a full/part-time contract to their players, and there’s no overall average wage between the sides that compete in the Ereklasse. Housing, job opportunities and a modest salary are the commonest ways of payment to those who go to the Netherlands in search of a pro rugby career.
Bundesliga
After almost six years of hardship, Germany seems ready to fight for a new and bright future, with the local Bundesliga having been able to produce much of the national team’s talent. Even so, clubs normally don’t offer full-time contracts, otherwise opting to help them get into school, find a job or introduce them as an academy coach. However, there are a few exceptions and some of the top players can get a type of part-time wage.
Ekstraliga
The Polish premiership is mostly an amateur competition; however, clubs can sign up to twelve non-Polish players (only five can be in the XV), allocating funds to hire some foreign acquisitions. Money-wise, players can expect to find a 10-month contract with an €8-12k total wage.
North America
MLR
Major League Rugby, the United States of America’s official franchise competition, has built a solid reputation and hired players from all over the globe, like Matt Giteau, Ma’a Nonu, Zura Zhvania and many others over the past six seasons.
The highest-paid players can net more than €95k a year, but the average player will earn between €25-30k per season. In the MLR you will find two types of contracts: full-time and part-time. The part-timers get less money but get an hourly rate plus bonuses.
The MLR has moved from being a league focused on attracting international superstars to becoming an enclave for domestic players who want to be pros but continue playing on US soil.
Asia
Japan Rugby League One
Japan’s action-packed League One has developed to become one of the most entertaining competitions globally, boosting its notoriety with the help of international superstars.
Two-time World Cup winner, Cheslin Kolbe, sits at the top of highest-paid players in Japan’s League One, earning close to €1m, followed closely by Springboks teammate Faf de Klerk.
Since 2015, Japan has made some progress in upgrading local Japanese players’ wages and overall work conditions, with the likes of Keita Inagaki and Kazuki Himeno having landed very profitable contracts in the last couple of years.
League Two sides have also been able to land international players, thanks to the involvement of some of Japan’s wealthiest corporations.
Korea Super Rugby League
Now famous because of the Netflix documentary, the Korea Super League has been on a rollercoaster for the last twelve years, but it seems things are at a turning point due to a major cash injection.
In 2024, Hyundai Glovis added a fifth title to their trophy cabinet, with a team packed with South Korean internationals and four foreign players. There’s little to no information about how well the league pays, but it is believed that players can secure €15k per season, remembering that the season is quite short compared to others.
Africa
Currie Cup
South Africa’s breeding ground for the best talent in the Rainbow Nation has improved its conditions and has built a trustworthy pathway for players to achieve excellence, with the median salary being €21k per season.
Springboks and other top-rated athletes are on a different level, as the salary cap has expanded since 2021, with the Bulls, Sharks, Stormers and Lions allowed to spend €3.4m a season.
Nile Special Rugby Men’s Championship
Uganda’s rugby scene is flourishing with the local Premiership paying prize money to clubs according to their final placement. Players earn an allowance for attending training and games, with most getting 40,000 UGX (11€) per week, making a total of 1,600,000 in each season (410€). The Nile Special Rugby Men’s Championship was won by the Heathens in 2024, with the team winning the prize money of 10 million UGX (€3k).
Kenya Cup
The Kenya Cup has suffered some setbacks since 2019. The absence of a sponsor meant that the competition has no prize money, so players must rely on what their clubs can pick up from their own investors. Only a handful of sides pay a type of wage to their players, but the majority have no financial means to pay any type of salary.
“… that would be disastrous for South African rugby”#InvestecChampionsCup 🟥https://t.co/9kuIM5TwPi
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 15, 2024
Oceania
Bunnings NPC
The standard NPC player would find a cheque of €17k minimum per season, with a chance of landing a better deal if he makes it into one of the Super Rugby Pacific sides, especially if it is one of the teams from Australia and New Zealand. Third-party contracts (commercial sponsorships) are also part of the deal.
Intercontinental
URC
Five nations, and a different wage for each country. As already explained, the four South African representative teams have a budget of €4m, while Leinster have a €20m budget, as reported by the Irish Times in 2022. Although Welsh rugby is under heavy pressure due to financial issues, there have been talks of a budget increase for the four teams, rising from €5m to €7m in the next couple of seasons.
Zebre’s current status is complicated, to say the least, but Benetton Treviso have steadily increased their wages, attracting top players like Agustín Creevy, Sebastian Negri, Jacob Umaga, Tomás Albornoz, Louis Lynagh, Tommaso Menoncello, Ignacio Brex and Malakai Fekitoa to its ranks.
As for the Scottish Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh teams, there’s little information about them, but Viliame Mata earned a €500k annual salary before leaving for the Premiership’s Bristol Bears.
The wage difference between clubs/nations has been the subject of discussion, with the example of the Dragons co-owner, David Buttress, being one of the loudest voices against it.
Super Rugby Americas
The South American franchise competition disputed between Selknam, Peñarol, Cobras, Dogos, Pampas, Yacaré, and Raptors lives under the same situation as other intercontinental competitions, as there’s a minimal wage gap between nations.
It is reported that the majority of those involved with the competition earn an annual salary of €14-18k, with the caveat that the Argentinians Dogos and Pampas operate under a different contract situation.
Super Rugby Pacific
The grandest franchise rugby competition from the South Hemisphere has all kinds of wages, but most players will find a minimum of €56-70k per season. If a player reaches an All Blacks or Wallabies status, then wages can double or triple, making it profitable to achieve that level.
New Zealand and Australia are the two dominant forces, but the Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua have developed reliable sporting structures to attract young and experienced players alike.
Rugby Europe Super Cup
Rugby Europe’s franchise competition has a flavour for every palate, but only one side can call themselves fully professional: the Georgian Black Lion. Lusitanos, Romanian Wolves and Castilla y León Iberians are at best semi-pro teams, paying players a monthly wage and a match bonus. Delta, Devils and Bohemia Rugby Warriors’ payment situation is not clear, but it is believed that those three teams pay a match/session practice wage to those who make it into the team.
