Football Governance Bill reintroduced under the new Labour government

The Football Governance Bill (“FGB”) was first introduced earlier this year, under the Conservative government, but failed to pass as legislation, prior to the general election in July. As a result, it’s been simmering away in the background but now, under the new Labour government, a new and ‘improved’ FGB is back on the agenda and was reintroduced into the House of Lords.

Some of the latest changes include:

Independence – under the previous Bill, the independent football regulator (“IFR”) was required to take into consideration the government’s foreign and trade policy when approving club takeovers. However, this requirement has now been removed, meaning it will be easier for the IFR to remain and operate independently.

Fan engagement – the FGB will require clubs to ‘democratically’ select fan representative and ensure that they are consulted on issues such as ticket pricing, stadium relocations plans and badge changes.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (“EDI”) – the IFR will now have additional powers to compel clubs to do more and be more transparent, requiring them to publish statements, about what actions they have taken to improve EDI within the game.

Parachute payments – the FGB initially introduced under the Conservative government, included “backstop powers” for the IFR to intervene if the Premier League and the English Football League are unable to reach an agreement on a new funding deal. The latest draft of the FGB goes a step further as the IFR will now be able to take into consideration parachute payments too – which were previously excluded – when deciding how much the PL should redistribute.

In terms of next steps, the FGB is likely to pass through parliament fairly quickly – mainly due to the broad cross-party support that it has – and it is expected that the FGB could come into force as early as May 2025.

However, we recommend that football clubs should – if they haven’t already done so – start preparing now to ensure that they are compliant with the new regime and in particular, the licensing requirements.