Minister for Sport (): Today I am updating the
House on the introduction of The Football Governance Act 2025
(Specified Competitions) Regulations 2025 which were laid before
Parliament today and will be debated in due course. These
regulations are subject to the draft affirmative procedure for
secondary legislation.
They are made under powers provided to the Government by the
Football Governance Act 2025. As was discussed in detail during
the Act's passage through both Houses, it will be important to
set the scope for this Regulator as soon as possible through its
delegated power. This eliminates any uncertainty for clubs, and
to allow the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) to proceed with
its setup, including its State of the Game report, that requires
its scope to be set before publishing the report.
The Statutory Instrument laid today proposes that the scope of
the regime will be the top five professional leagues in English
Football. This will include the Premier League, the Championship,
Leagues One and Two, and the National League.
This was the proposal in the Fan-Led Review in 2021, the previous
Government's White Paper in 2023, and has been discussed and
consulted on by all relevant stakeholders at great length. The
rationale for these leagues are that the issues that the
Regulator is concerned with most typically and markedly arise in
the top five leagues of the men's game, where the
financialisation of clubs is greater and where the right balance
between benefits versus costs of regulation is achieved.
We do not believe extending the scope beyond the top five tiers
would be proportionate to the burden on the smaller clubs below
the National League, where the issues the IFR are aiming to
resolve are less prevalent.
On the Women's game, Karen Carney led an Independent Review of
domestic Women's Football which was published in July 2023 and
recommended that the Women's game should be given the opportunity
to self-regulate rather than moving immediately to independent
statutory regulation. Given the rapid growth and opportunity in
the Women's game, the Government supports this recommendation, so
Women's Football will not be in scope of the IFR.
By continuing the setup of the Independent Football Regulator,
this Government continues to deliver on its election promises, to
combat the poor governance and financial mismanagement of
football clubs in this country, and to put fans back at the heart
of English Football.
