Papua New Guinea's entry into top-level professional rugby league is a story decades in the making. Rugby league has long been considered the national sport of Papua New Guinea, commanding a passion that cuts across the country's extraordinary linguistic and cultural diversity. Efforts to place a PNG-based team in Australia's National Rugby League date back to at least 2008, when Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare publicly announced a bid, and momentum built steadily through the following years.
A significant milestone came in 2014 when the PNG Hunters entered the Queensland Cup, Queensland's state-level competition, giving Papua New Guinean players a meaningful pathway into elite rugby league. The Hunters claimed the Queensland Cup premiership in 2017, validating the depth of local talent and the seriousness of PNG's rugby league ambitions.
The breakthrough at the highest level was formally confirmed on 12 December 2024, when the Australian Rugby League Commission announced that a PNG-based NRL franchise would enter the competition in 2028. The announcement came alongside a AU$600 million Australian Government funding package supporting the club, grassroots development, and community programs across Papua New Guinea and the wider Pacific.
On 12 October 2025, Prime Minister James Marape announced the team's name: the PNG Chiefs. The name was chosen through a national public vote — shortlisted alongside the Crocs and the Pythons — and carries particular cultural resonance because the term "Chief" can be applied equally to male and female leaders in Papua New Guinea. The club will play home matches at Santos National Football Stadium in Port Moresby, which is being upgraded to a capacity of 23,000–25,000 for the 2028 season. A seven-person board chaired by Ray Dib was unveiled in June 2025, with Melbourne Storm legend Marcus Bai among its members.