Football regulator proposes £20.3m annual levy on English clubs

English football’s Independent Football Regulator has proposed charging clubs a combined £20.3m a year, roughly twice the amount anticipated in an earlier assessment, BBC Sport reported on Friday. Clubs regulated across the top five divisions of the English men’s game will have to fund the watchdog’s operations from next season, with the proposed charges varying according to their financial resources.

Watch the highlights:

The total comprises £18.3m in operating costs to support a workforce of 100, plus £1m for possible litigation. A further £1m would contribute towards estimated establishment costs of £45m, which are to be repaid over 10 years. The earlier impact assessment, produced in 2019 before the legislation was finalised, had put annual operating costs at between £8m and £10.2m for the first decade.

Chief executive Richard Monks said the earlier £10m figure did not reflect present financial conditions or the work facing the regulator. According to the BBC’s report, he argued that the proposed levy would leave most clubs paying about 0.1% of their annual revenues. He presented that contribution as a modest investment in the financial sustainability of clubs and the wider game.

The proposed allocation would place larger bills on clubs with greater resources. Participation in UEFA and FIFA competitions, along with receipt of Premier League parachute payments, would bring higher contributions. The regulator estimates that the highest-earning Premier League clubs could be charged as much as £1.8m each season, while most clubs in that division would pay £600,000.

For Championship clubs without parachute payments, the projected annual charge is around £45,000. The corresponding figures are approximately £9,000 in League One and £6,000 in League Two, while National League clubs would pay less than £600. Those amounts form part of the regulator’s proposed approach, rather than a uniform fee across the five divisions.

The funding announcement follows the regulator’s State of the Game report, published last week. It found that 94% of clubs were making losses and that more than 60% of EFL and National League clubs were technically insolvent. The watchdog also said that, since its establishment last year, it had conducted suitability checks on 40 owners, directors and senior executives and participated in Premier League-EFL negotiations over a new financial settlement.