NRL Chief Executive Andrew Abdo will this week be revealed as the new CEO of the Rugby Football League, while retaining his current role in the NRL, in a shock move that represents the first element of the forthcoming partnership between the two major governing bodies of the game worldwide.

League Express understands that Abdo’s main task will be to ensure that Super League and the NRL are closely aligned and he will play a pivotal role in the forthcoming TV negotiations between Super League and various potential broadcasters of the competition.

His appointment now means that Super League could be heading for a lucrative broadcasting deal with DAZN, the company that bought Foxtel last year and that therefore now broadcasts the NRL to its domestic audience.

Abi Ekoku has been acting as the RFL’s interim CEO for the last twelve months, but he is expected to depart in July, when the RFL Council will be asked to give its backing to Abdo’s appointment.

After that Abdo will spend three months per year in England, meeting stakeholders and developing a strategy for the expansion of the game. He will work closely with the RFL board of directors, which was voted into power by the RFL Council at its meeting in Salford last week.

League Express understands that Abdo is keen to see London Broncos enter Super League next year, while he is also determined to see the competition expand into other major centres in the British Isles and France and he will have financial backing from the NRL to achieve that objective.

“This is one of the biggest things to happen to British Rugby League in the Super League era,” an RFL spokesman told League Express.

“Andrew is a gifted administrator and he has great admiration for the game in the northern hemisphere.

“Our Chairman Nigel Wood was determined to get the best person for the job and we think we’ve got him.

“It’s almost too good to be true.”