Proposed Independent Football Regulator Cost Doubles to £20.3m a Year

What changed

England’s proposed Independent Football Regulator will cost clubs £20.3m a year, roughly twice the £8m, £10.2m annual estimate made in 2019. From next season, regulated clubs in the top five divisions of English men’s football are expected to fund it.

The proposed bill includes:

• £18.3m for 100 staff
• £1m for potential litigation
• £1m toward £45m in set-up costs, repaid over 10 years

Why it matters

This is a new cost landing across English football, but it will not land evenly. The highest-earning Premier League clubs could pay up to £1.8m per season, while most would pay about £600,000. Championship clubs outside the parachute-payment system would pay around £45,000; League One clubs about £9,000; League Two clubs £6,000; and National League clubs less than £600.

The regulator says most clubs would contribute about 0.1% of annual revenue. That argument carries more weight at the top of the game than at the bottom. The same system covers clubs in very different financial conditions: 94% are loss-making, while more than 60% of EFL and National League clubs are technically insolvent.

The higher cost reflects the regulator’s view that the original estimate no longer matches the task ahead. Its proposed levy is intended to charge more to clubs with higher revenues, European competition income or parachute payments, while funding checks on owners and executives and work on the relationship between the Premier League and EFL.

The final levy and each club’s bill are not yet confirmed. The central question is whether clubs see this as a modest price for greater financial stability, or another demand on budgets already under strain.