Impact assessment

Fact sheet - duties on clubs and competition organisers

Updated 25 October 2024

Applies to England and Wales

The Football Governance Bill confers a number of duties on clubs and on specified competition organisers. 

For clubs, there are three sets of duties applying to different classes of club:

• regulated and formerly regulated clubs
• regulated clubs
• licensed clubs

When the Secretary of State specifies in secondary legislation the competitions which are in scope of regulation, all clubs operating a team competing in these competitions will need a licence to operate - these are referred to as ‘regulated clubs’. Once these clubs obtain a licence, they are referred to as ‘licensed clubs’. 

Most requirements imposed by the Bill or the IFR (including any type of licence condition) will only be applicable to licensed clubs. A small subset will apply to all regulated clubs whether or not they have a licence, and a smaller subset still will also apply to ‘formerly regulated clubs’. This will ensure that any club wishing to remove itself from the scope of the licensing regime to circumvent certain conditions will still be captured. For example, by abandoning the existing football pyramid to compete in a new prohibited breakaway competition, or strip a club of its assets.

Duties on regulated and formerly regulated clubs

Prohibited competitions

Regulated clubs and clubs that have been regulated within the past ten years cannot participate in ‘prohibited competitions’.

Prohibited competitions are specified by the IFR in its rules, in consideration of  predetermined criteria, including:

• whether the competition would be fair and meritocratic
• would jeopardise the sustainability of other English competitions and clubs in those competitions
• would harm the heritage of English football

The IFR must also gather and have regard to the views of fans in England and Wales, and consult the FA, before prohibiting a competition.

Home ground sale or disposal

The IFR must pre-approve before any regulated club, or formerly regulated club (a body that has been a regulated club within the past five years), sells or disposes of any interest the club/body holds in the home ground, or uses the ground as security for a loan.

Relevant steps when considering administration

Regulated clubs and formerly regulated clubs (a body that has been a regulated club within the past five years) must seek approval from the IFR before appointing an administrator to the club when considering entering administration.

Duties on regulated clubs

Club heritage

Regulated clubs will be required to establish the support of the majority of their fans in England and Wales prior to making any material changes to the club crest and predominant home shirt colours. The legislation also requires clubs to gain the approval of the FA prior to any name change.

Stadium relocation

The IFR must pre-approve the relocation of a regulated club’s team from its home ground. As part of any relocation, clubs will also now be required to consult their supporters on the proposal, prior to gaining the IFR’s approval. Clubs may occasionally move stadiums in a way that is likely to be acceptable, as the impacts on club heritage are minimal relative to the financial and other benefits. However, this duty will ensure the IFR can prevent a relocation where the impacts on club heritage are outweighed.

Fan engagement during insolvency proceedings

If a regulated club enters administration, they will now be required to keep their fans updated, as far as they are able, on developments in the relevant insolvency proceedings. This is intended to increase transparency during a difficult time for fans.

Duty to notify change of circumstances

Regulated clubs must notify the IFR of any material changes in their circumstances relevant to the IFR’s functions as soon as possible after the change.

Duties on licenced clubs

Personnel statement

Licensed clubs will be under a duty to publish an up to date ‘personnel statement’ and submit it to the IFR for approval. This is a statement which identifies who is in charge of the club, including its owners, directors, and senior managers and their roles and responsibilities.

Levy

The IFR will have powers to charge a levy on licensed clubs to cover its running costs..

The IFR will determine how the levy is distributed across clubs. Given the IFR has a statutory requirement to take into account clubs’ individual financial resources and the league in which they play when making its levy rules, the levy payments will not be equally divided among the 116 clubs in scope. It is expected that Premier League clubs will shoulder a larger proportion of costs, reducing the financial burden on clubs further down the pyramid.

Duties on specified competition organisers

The IFR will take a participative approach to regulation, consulting with the leagues where necessary, and the leagues will have the opportunity to offer legally binding commitments in lieu of financial discretionary licence conditions. In order to facilitate this cooperative approach, there will be a duty on the leagues to notify the IFR in the following circumstances:

• if the league thinks for any reason that there is a risk to the ability of the IFR to deliver on its club financial soundness, or systemic financial resilience objectives

• if the league has failed, or expects to fail, to comply with a commitment in place in lieu of a financial discretionary licence condition

• if the league considers or suspects that a club has breached a ‘relevant rule of a specified competition (a league rule which relates to the IFR’s functions)

• before a penalty, sanction or other requirement is imposed on a club that breaches or is suspected to have breached a relevant rule of a specified competition

The leagues will also have to consult the IFR before adding, removing, or varying their relevant rules.