Georgia, Spain, Romania and Portugal unite in IV Nations Alliance to accelerate rugby growth

Georgia, Spain, Romania, and Portugal have formalised a joint development pact, signing a Memorandum of Understanding in Tbilisi on 29 September to establish the IV Nations Alliance — a partnership aimed at accelerating rugby growth across all four nations simultaneously.

The union presidents — Georgia’s David Kacharava, Romania’s Alin Petrache, Spain’s Juan Carlos Martín Sánchez, and Portugal’s Carlos Amado da Silva — committed to collaboration across commercial, high-performance, and competitive sectors. The alliance will facilitate information-sharing, best-practice exchanges, and joint training and coaching programmes.

Beyond internal cooperation, the IV Nations Alliance intends to propose changes to international competitive calendars, with the goal of unlocking development opportunities that the four nations have not yet been able to access individually. The four countries have long dominated Rugby Europe’s internal competitions, and Spain is currently represented across all major global men’s and women’s competitions in both 15s and 7s formats.

Georgian Rugby Union president David Kacharava, a former Lelos centre, welcomed the coming-together of four nations that have historically been rivals on the pitch. “We have now a bigger and stronger voice to keep on progressing,” he said.

Spain’s Juan Carlos Martín Sánchez echoed that sentiment, pointing to the transformative potential of the agreement. “We are very happy to have reached an agreement that will facilitate the transformation process we are embarked on,” he said.

The alliance will operate under the guidance of World Rugby and Rugby Europe, working in close coordination with both governing bodies. Its formation carries added significance given that Georgia, Romania, Spain, and Portugal are set to compete in the same Men’s Rugby World Cup for the first time — a milestone that underlines how far each nation has travelled and how much further they collectively intend to go.