Football clubs may become FCA-regulated after the regulator signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement with the new Independent Football Regulator (IFR).
The new IFR has been set up by the football sector to improve governance in the professional game and is an independent, non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport.
The IFR has been established under the Football Governance Act 2025, “for the purpose of protecting and promoting the sustainability of English football.”
The IFR will be responsible for regulating the top five tiers of English Men's football, including the Premier League, the Championship, Divisions One and Two of the English Football League and the National League.
The new memorandum signed by the Manchester-based IFR and the FCA could see clubs regulated in future by the FCA for permissions such as credit broking and becoming FCA regulated for some of their financial services.
Existing clubs already require financial regulation under UK legislation depending on what financial services they offer but there is no widespread requirement to be FCA regulated.
The IFR will have a number of new powers and will aim to ensure clubs are run in a financially sound way, that fans are properly engaged with by the clubs and it will also be able to review ticket pricing and other aspects of the clubs' businesses.
Among the IFR's sanctions are being able to force owners to sell clubs, appointing third parties to help run clubs and requiring clubs to increase financial resources.
The FCA has stressed that the agreement is, at this stage, purely a memorandum for the two bodies to work together and no confirmation of new regulations has been agreed.
The MoU says: “This MoU establishes a framework for cooperation, coordination and information sharing between the IFR and the FCA.
“It sets out the broad principles of collaboration and the arrangements for the sharing of relevant information and intelligence between the parties. The shared aims of this MoU are to enable closer working between the parties, including the exchange of appropriate information, to assist them in discharging their regulatory functions.”
The IFR is aimed at protecting and promoting the financial soundness of regulated clubs, protecting and promoting the financial resilience of English football and “safeguarding” the heritage of English football, it says.
A number of professional football clubs have gone bust and either been taken over or had points deducted.
The IFR’s key functions will be to:
- issue operating licences to regulated clubs;
- assess the suitability of and approve the appointment of prospective owners and officers of regulated clubs;
- ensure that regulated clubs have sound corporate and financial governance in place;
- approve or not approve certain key decisions taken by regulated clubs as set out in the Football Governance Act;
- compile a 'State of the Game' report;
- intervene where appropriate in relation to broadcast revenue distribution; and
- use its investigatory and enforcement powers in relation to compliance when appropriate.